


Before The Dark Times

by End_before_grace



Series: The Joys of Nightmares and the Inky fix series [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine, Five Nights at Freddy's, Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Cannibalism, F/M, Kidnapping, M/M, More will be added as story continues., Multi, Psychological Torture, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:14:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 24,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23411485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/End_before_grace/pseuds/End_before_grace
Summary: FNAF, Bendy, Nightmares all meet here. If you haven't read The Fix Series, this is not going to make sense, so please read that or at least the last chapter. As far as the Freddy group is concerned its nothing but blue skies ahead now that the Afton family has been put to rest...or has it? Mike is slowly learning that the gift of "Joys of Creation" is a lot more than he can handle as the history and cult behind it start coming for him and the crew. Henry Stein, who has left his life partner Joey behind decides to start a new life without him and without Bendy, sadly, the studio and Bendy have other plans.
Relationships: Bendy/Henry Stein, Bonnie & Mike Schmidt (Five Nights at Freddy's), Foxy/The Mangle (Five Nights at Freddy's), Funtime Foxy/Funtime Freddy (Five Nights at Freddy's), Joey Drew/Henry Stein, OC/OC
Series: The Joys of Nightmares and the Inky fix series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1684075
Comments: 28
Kudos: 59





	1. It had to start somewhere

The Joys of Nightmares and the Inky fix series

Before the Dark Times

Chapter one: It had to start somewhere

"Work Hard. Work Happy" posters were everywhere and it was driving Sammy insane. It was like he never left the studio these days, work seemed endless and everywhere he looked, he saw him. Every day he would see him. Every day looking into that creepy smile. Hell, he even saw it in his dreams...and nightmares. He ran his hand through his thinning hair. The churring, gurgling sound of the ink pipes was driving him to distraction. He looked down at the blank music sheets and started scribbling notes. He had to come up with three new tunes by tomorrow because, oh Mr wonderful Joey Drew, decided he didn't like the first bunch of songs he had written and ordered him to do it again. Despite the fact, the cartoons were only days from launching. 

PLOP! 

A large black inky stain fell on the page. Sammy’s eye twitched as his whole body began to shake. He slammed his fists down on his desk and tore the sheet of music into tiny sheds. Then he fell to his knees, clenching his stomach, a sick, twisted need gripped him and shook his soul with its demands. 

“No. No! I don’t need it. I don’t...I do! Oh, I do. It will only be a few drops, what’s the harm? Two, three, maybe four drops just to be on the safe side but no more than that” 

Sammy got on his chair and then on to the desk, tilted his head back and allowed the drops from the leaking pipe to fall into his mouth. Dear god, it was disgusting, thick and rancid as it burned its way to his stomach. He was only going to take a few drops so why dear lord was he pressing his mouth to the pipe and sucking the ink down as fast as he could. 

"HEY! What do ya think ya doing ya weirdo!" someone shouted as they pulled him down from the desk. It was Wally, the so-called janitor of the place, looking at him as if he had grown another head, the little pion! 

“What the heck were you doing Mr Lawence? Don’t you know climbing up like that is dangerous?” 

“I wouldn’t need to climb up and try and fix the pipes if you actually did your job!” Sammy snapped pointing to the leaking pipe. 

“Whoa! Hey, wait a sec! Did you even REPORT a leaking pipe? Because there was no message waiting for me this morning about any pipes leaking on this floor. Plenty on floor nine took me forever to mop that stuff up, might have been better to have used a broom, if I didn’t know any better I’d say that stuff is alive” exclaimed Wally defensively before looking over Sammy and pointed to his cheek “Oh by the way you have a little…” 

Sammy wiped his cheek with the back of his hand, sneered at the cleaner before shifting his desk slightly away from leaking pipe and got back to work. Wally just shrugged and said sarcastically “Sure thing Mr Lawence, I don’t mind fixing it for you, oh, you don’t have to thank me or nothing, it’s not like I got another dozen or so jobs to do. I swear anymore of this and I am outta here!” 

Sammy waited until he couldn’t hear Wally’s footsteps anymore before dropping his pen and hiding his face into his fists. What the hell was he doing? Drinking Ink? When had he fallen so low? He needed a break, yes, a little fresh air, he’ll just hand in his old notes, that blowhard Joey wouldn’t know the difference. He got to his feet, stretched and turned around to leave his office, only to scream and fall backwards. He scurried back until he hit the wall, panting heavily and shaking. When did a copy of Bendy’s cutout turn up in his office? He slowly pulled himself up against the wall, slowly walked over to the cutout and quickly turned it so it was now facing the wall and not him, then just as quickly Sammy made his escape though he swore those eyes were chasing him the whole damn way. 

\---Line Break---

Henry sat in the back of the cab and tried to relax. He was finally going to see his nephew, Jeremy, after so long. They had kept in contact by phone and texts but it wasn’t the same as face to face. He was...or at least had been so busy with work and Joey that he hardly had time for family. He looked down at his phone at the text that Jeremy had sent him. 

“I have an hour break for lunch. Come to Freddy’s and join me, my treat” 

“So, where to mister?” the driver asked through the glass window. 

“Oh..um...the Freddy pizza place please?”

“Er...which one? There is four of them ya know”

“Oh...the nearest one I guess” Jeremy had said that he worked quite near to his home.

“Ok” 

The drive was quite pleasant and gave Henry some time to look around the city. It was certainly different from the one he was used to. This one was a lot cleaner, modern, bright, while his city seemed trapped in the past with the smell of stale seawater and broken dreams. The driver pulled into a small car park with a child's playground and miniature garden. Henry paid the driver and stepped out to look at the restaurant. It was nice to hear children laughing and having fun though Jeremy never mentioned that his workplace was pirate themed. He walked and was promptly greeted by..twins? No...animatronic twins...goodness they were so lifelike. 

“Hello sir, since this is your first time here, would you like us to escort you to a table or the order point?” said the young boy holding a large group of balloons. 

“Or you can wait here if you’re expecting more people to join you” added the girl as she placed a token in her pocket as a child came over to the ice cream machine. 

"I'm here to have lunch with my nephew today, he works here, so if I can have a table that would be kind and I'll wait for him to go on his break," said Henry friendly as Balloon Boy handed his sister his balloons and led Henry to a small table and handed a menu before heading back to his station with his sister. Henry looked around and his eyes fell on the stage where Foxy, Fox and Mangle were acting out a story. He pulled out his phone but also his pad and pencil, after quickly texting Jeremy that he was there, he started to doodling the fox crew on his pad, giving them a little bit of a makeover, Foxy looked a lot older with fewer teeth, Mangle was given more female shape and looks while Mangy was made to look like he was over-eager and innocent. Suddenly his mobile jerked him away from his drawing. 

“Where are you?” it was Jeremy. 

“On a small table just a little way off from the stage” he texted back and looked around the restaurant to see if he could see him. His phone vibrated again. 

“Are you sure? Because I’m with Freddy and he says he hasn’t seen you” 

“Is Freddy the fox?” 

“Hang on one sec…” 

A few minutes passed and Henry was starting to get worried. Suddenly a tall man in his prime, with messy black hair and glasses came over to his table holding a mobile to his ear. 

“Excuse me, sir, are you Jeremy’s uncle Henry?” 

“Yes…” 

“Found him Jer. I’ll look after him until you get here,” said the man as he put his phone away and then held his hand out “Hello, the name is Mark, I’m one of Jeremy’s best friends and bros. Welcome to the Cove!” 

“So this isn’t Freddy’s?” said Henry “but the driver said…” 

"Oh their all referred to as Freddy Fazbear as that is the name of the company but underneath it are the titles of each restaurant, like The Cove, Nightmare and The Sister" explained Mark as he sat down opposite him, "Jer told us a lot about you. Says you're an animator for the Bendy cartoons, the younger animatronics at Nightmare and the Sister are big fans and are looking forward to meeting you" 

“The animatronics…? I don’t understand…” 

Mike smiled and rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. “Ah...I keep forgetting. I keep expecting people to know and...forgetting that not everyone practically lives with these guys as we do. Once you get to know them, you’ll understand, believe me” 

Henry frowned but looked over at the animatronics and how the children and adults were interacting with them as if they were alive. A young woman came over with a pizza and two soft drinks and placed them on the table. 

"Donna told me to tell you that this on the house since the gentleman is Jeremy uncle but to tell you that the jig is up and she knows that it's you that is taking most of the scraps at night'

“What? But I’m a growing boy! I need my daily dose of grease and cheese” Mark moaned as the girl laughed as she went back to her station. 

"I wouldn't have thought such a place would have much in the way of leftovers," said Henry as he helped himself to a slice. 

"Only a couple of extra that usually got ordered and never got picked up or ready just in case of the last-minute rush. Though saying that, the guys usually keep them for the night guard but Jeremy says he is on a diet so I've been...sorta helping myself kinda thing before I leave for the night…" said Mark with a boyish grin. Henry decided there and then that he liked Mark. He could see him as a little boy, pulling pranks in class and when caught would just smile with that titled halo over his head and say "Who me?". They were having a polite conversation when Mark noticed the drawings and burst out laughing. 

"Oh, man! You made Foxy look like some old sailor hahaha, Mangle looks really good but Mangy...he's the complete opposite from when he first came here, a poor thing used to jump at seeing his own shadow. HEY MANGY! Got a sec?" 

Henry looked up to see the younger fox pirate come over with a bored look on his face like most teenagers had when bossed about by adults. 

"What's up Mark? You better not be taking your sweet time on your break. Dad is already looking to have a moan at you for swapping your shifts" 

“He’s still mad about that? It’s not my fault that “Freddy” insists on Tiny being at his store and if I want any time with the little guy I’ve got to do the night shift. Anyway take a look at this” said Mark as he handed Mangy the drawing. The fox tilted his head to one side as he looked it over and gave a small snort before handing it to Henry. 

“You got my dad spot on, not sure what to make of mom, but did you have to make me so goody goody?”

Henry was surprised by the recognition of the fox, he sounded like a normal teen and how he was able to respond, it was amazing. 

“Sorry, I just thought it was a cute idea, I meant no offence” 

The fox shrugged "I don't mind but Dad might get a bit snippy about it. He doesn't like the idea of people calling him old" 

“UNCLE HENRY” 

The three of them turned to see Jeremy walking through the restaurant towards them, smiling widely as he held his arms out to embrace his uncle. Henry quickly got to his feet and hugged Jeremy tightly. His sister's boy had grown up strong and looked quite similar to how he used to look when he was in the army. Jeremy's grin looked like it was going to split his face. He was so happy. He hadn't seen his uncle in so long. They kept in touch with letters, phone calls and emails but it's never the same. His uncle had been his hero when he was a kid, hell he was still his hero, the man was a VET who had carried his injured men over dangerous enemy territory, was a skilled animator, and a man who loved his family. 

“Is it just you or is Uncle Joey here too?” he asked looking around. 

Henry winced slightly, “I take it you haven’t spoken to your mother yet?” 

“Well I have, she said you were staying with her for a while, she didn’t say anything else so…” 

“I left him” 

Jeremy pulled back from his uncle and blinked as if the words were trying to penetrate his brain and failing. 

"Mark! Break time is over! Time to get back to your office!" Mangy snapped quickly as he pulled the guard to his feet. 

"Really? How time flies!" said Mark as he reached down and grabbed the last slice of pizza before Mangy dragged him away "Really nice to meet you, Henry" 

Henry waved goodbye with a slight chuckle before sitting down again “Well they weren’t trying to get away fast were they” 

Jeremy sat in Mark’s vacant seat still looking confused. “I don’t get it. You and Joey have been together years! You built that studio together. Created Bendy” 

"Ah Jeremy, not everything was 50/50 with me and Joey. Joey is a man of ideas...and only ideas. The people like me that work god damn breaking hours to make his dreams come true are the real genius behind it all and...Joey is the man that gets all the credit for it. He's been up to something big recently, I don't know what, he won't tell me, but he's been borrowing really REALLY big bucks from his investors, along with wining and dining young ladies...and not coming back to the early hours of the morning, you have to kind of read the signs and make a discussion. So I packed up my stuff and called my lovely sister and moved out and you know what the really sad part...I bet Joey hasn't even noticed I've gone" said Henry sadly. 

Jeremy just sat there with his mouth slightly ajar. When even his uncle and Joey had visited, Joey would always boast about his uncle, say how much he loved him and such, it seemed a far cry from the man his uncle was telling him about. 

“So what are you going to do now? Wasn’t most of your savings spent on the studio?” 

"Most but not all. Plus I did earn a wage as an animator too, Joey insisted, though I'm guessing it was just another way of controlling me" said Henry sadly "But I'm not broke, just need to find another job, know anybody who is looking for a washed-up old animator?" 

Jeremy thought about it for a while when his mobile went off with a text from Mike asking him when he was going to be back. 

“I think I might have a slight idea. How good are you at drawing bears, chickens and bunnies Uncle?” 

  
  


\---Line Break---

The Lady sat in front of her vanity, humming a sad tune as she brushed her long black hair, her various pins and combs set neatly in front of her. It was a few hours before the guests arrived and she needed to look her best. She slid a hairpin in but it slipped from her fingers and clattered on to the floor. A small gnome scuttered over the floor and held the pin-up for her. She leaned down and took the pin and patted the gnome on the head. It squeaks happily before running off. She smiled slightly and went back to working on her hair. As annoying as the gnomes were, she couldn't bring herself to truly hate them, after all, they were sacrificing their human souls to keep her young and beautiful after all. There was a knock on her door, it was so hard it made the walls rattle, along with the disgusting stench of decay. She slid on her mask and turned gracefully to the door. 

“Come” 

Long spindly arms pushed the door open and the Janitor walked in on his tiny stubby legs. His dirty horrid raincoat was only out-done by the mouldy rag that he used to cover his eyeless sockets. He sniffed the air like someone with a severe cold, with thick snot dripping from his large nose, as dry crusting covered each nostril. He stumbled forward and then took off his hat respectfully. 

“A call from the Nest your Ladyship. The Butler says the Pretender keeps running off again” 

"Simply order the Craftsman to make her more dolls. That usually keeps the child occupied" she said in a bored tone. 

"That is the problem, your Ladyship. The Craftsman says he does not have enough…" materials" 

“I see,” said the Lady as she rose to her feet, “How many do we have in the nursery?” 

The Janitor stepped back slightly “We only have about a handful, the rest are already being prepared for tonight's feast, and even with what we are serving the Twins say is stretching things” 

The Lady gripped her fists tightly, her long sharp nails were digging into her palm, as she shook with righteous anger. How could they be so low on stock? Has this ever happened before? The records nor had her predecessor never mentioned it. Or could it be that adults were just greedier than they were in the past? Whatever the reason she had to act now. She could not wait for the bumbling idiot and his little mazed mall for more children. 

“Send two of the children from the nursery to the Nest and tell the Craftsman he is to make do for now. Tell the Hunter and the Teacher that their skills are needed as well as our other usual contacts, slave traders, orphanages and the like. The sooner, the better and at any price. Now leave” 

"Yes, your ladyship" The Janitor put his hat back on and quickly left the room. The Lady turned back to her vanity and slammed her fist down on it hard, shattering it into splitters, black blood flowed over her pale skin. Something was tugging at her gown. It was the gnome, possibly the same one as before, holding her discarded pins in its tiny grasp. She sneered behind her mask and with one quick movement, she crushed the gnome beneath her foot, enjoying the sound of tiny bones breaking beneath her heel. Yes, the gnomes were very annoying, very annoying indeed. 

  
  


\---Line Break---

“WHAT IN GOD’S NAME IS THAT?” 

Thomas flinched at the volume of Joey’s rage. The small man in the wheelchair looked like a bomb about to explode he was so red in the face. He seemed to be on the edge of his seat about to leap out and throttle him. 

“He...I mean it...is what we call a first attempt sir” said Thomas firmly. “And a rather good attempt in my opinion” 

“A GOOD attempt? Are you looking out of your arsehole Tommy? It’s a monster!” snapped Joey as he wheeled himself away from the glass cage that held the large ink demon that was meant to be the studio’s beloved mascot Bendy. 

“This version is yes but we’re a lot closer to making them live cartoons to what we have been in the last few months. The others are just formless blobs of ink. We are so close. It just needs something else” said Thomas. 

“Well found out what the hell it is! I’m not paying you for monsters” Joey growled as he wheeled himself out of the room muttering darkly. 

“Damn! And I thought Mr Cave had a temper” said one of the other “Gent” employees. 

"Well they both expect us to pull miracles out of our arses, the only difference in working here, is there is plenty of other people to be the test subjects" 

"Keep your voice down" snapped Thomas as he looked over at the open doorway. "You never know who is about and it wouldn't do for rumours to start flying about" 

"Whatever you say boss" smirked the employee as he adjusted his new tool belt and followed the others out "All I know I will rather be here than back at Aperture" 

Thomas Conner sighed and looked over his notes. What had he missed? He was sure he had followed all the instructions. Surely all this nonsense about souls was truly needed? He paid no attention to the ink creature that sat down in its glass cage and used it’s inky fingers to draw stick figures. One was a man holding a paintbrush and the other was of itself...or at least what he was meant to look like. He wondered why this person was. He missed him. One thing he did know, was the yelling man in the chair, was the reason his important person was missing. He was going to have to do something about the yelling man, he was a bad man, who had made his important person cry. He will have to wait for now, he wasn’t strong enough yet, but it was only a matter of time. These fools had no idea what they were messing with. 

  
  


\---Line Break---

It was rare for Freddy to leave the pizzeria, outside of events and for family meetings, but Mike felt he needed to be here and besides it was too much for him on his own. With the death of Thomas McBear, the son of the previous owner of "Freddy's" and Mike's apartment building, his apartment needed cleaning out and things sadly are thrown away. Mike had spoken to the council about it and offered to do it and the council was happy to dump it on him. Since Freddy was the eldest animatronic now, since the passing of Goldie, he felt it was only right that the bear is here, in case there were things that he wanted to keep. They had been at it for a few hours now, there were several boxes labelled for charity shops, mostly filled with china, knickknacks and clothes while Freddy had a couple of boxes filled with photos, awards that had been won by the pizzeria and a few other personal things. Mike had found a lot of drawings and blueprints for animatronics, that Fred McBear never got around too as well as paperwork for the pizzeria that needed to be looked at since he was the new owner. 

"I don't know about you Freddy but I could do with a break," said Mike as he wiped his forehead "Fancy a can of oil?" 

The bear didn’t respond. He was sitting on his knee joints and looking over some pictures and newspaper clippings from an old box. Mike frowned but shrugged it off, guessing the old bear processor was focused on what he was doing to not have heard him, as he got up and grabbed himself a soda and a can of oil and walked up to the bear. 

“Freddy?” 

The animatronic bear jerked before looking over at Mike “Sorry Mike. I didn't hear you come over” 

Mike handed the can of oil over and Freddy took it gratefully “You seemed lost in your own world there Freddy. Everything ok?” 

Freddy placed a servo over the box of photos “Just missing them is all. It's rather hard to believe that they're gone” 

“Yeah...Mr Mcbear was a good man and a good teacher. Tom was...a person?” Mike tried as Thomas Mcbear has these last few years been trying to make his life a misery when he was at home and Freddy was not fond of him either. 

“I’d drink to that,” said Freddy with a soft smile and tapped his can against Mike’s as they drank in silence. Mike looked down at the newspaper clips that Freddy had placed on the floor. They had gone a funny colour with age and some of the words had faded over the years. 

“What are they all about Freddy? Mr Mcbear didn’t seem the type to keep a scrapbook” 

"Well, it's the reason why he built the pizzeria and us in the first place," said Freddy as he held up the paper clipping for Mike to look at. "Before father built the pizzeria, this city, if not the whole of this county, was the top place for missing children. Some were said to have been abducted but most they claim were runaways. None of the children were ever found...well at least alive. Father wanted to build a place for children to come and feel safe. Families that had problems with getting food always got the best discounts or even the scraps that got left of an evening. Father was good like that" 

Mike looked over the papers and checked the dates. Many of these were before Mr Afton and his killing spree of “Naughty children” but what did that mean? Was there another Afton killing kids? Or was there something else going on?

“Freddy? Would you mind if I keep those for a while? I just want to make sure of something…” 

Freddy looked at Mike and flicked one of his fingers at Mike’s forehead. 

"Stop chasing ghosts, Mike. You said so yourself that they were gone and Afton is most likely burning in hell for his crimes." 

“I know. Yet...I’ve just got a feeling...please Freddy?” 

Freddy sighed and slumped slightly before placing the newspaper clipping back into the box and slid it across to Mike. "Just promise me that you won't do one of your disappearing acts because of your theory hunting" 

“I promise. Besides I’ve got enough to do with designing and building a rock and roll group for the new pizzeria as well as dealing with the Sister animatronics” 

Freddy chuckled loudly “The three little ones are still insisting that they're going to form a band?” 

"Yep. Fiona and Bon Bon are not too bad but Tomkin...he keeps on insisting he's going to be a "Bad Boy" and wants to wear a leather jacket which goes very against his "Victorian" style sailor suit. I won't even start on the make upside of it" 

Freddy chuckled, "Myself and Bonnie went through such a faze. I think it was the Beatles or was it Elvis we wanted to be. Oh course Father quickly nipped that in the bud, mostly because at the time, he couldn't program us for us complex music other than the small jams that we did back then" 

The images of Freddy dressed as Elvis or one of the Beatles flashed in Mike’s mind and caused him to bend over with laughter until the bear animatronic punched him lightly in the ribs. 

Henry really couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He knew from phone calls from Jeremy that the animatronics were quite lively but he had put it down to his nephew's love of the place but now seeing how they were interacting with the children he was having second thoughts. The Band was really good, Tiny was simply sweet and it was lovely to see they had a drawing section for kids that was always guarded by one animatronic or another, though today it was being looked after by a bunny called Shadow. He had bought his pad and pencils with him and was simply drawing away while he waited for Jeremy to turn up from the Cove. He wanted him to meet up with his boss, brother, care patient and pain in the arse, Mike Schmidt, who might be open to an idea Jeremy had. He drew Freddy like a normal bear...maybe a bit more around the belly...with a tiny top hat and bow tie. Bonnie was an overgrown bunny with really large ears and Chica was wearing an old fashioned bonnet and apron, making her look motherly. Sooty had an over large torso and skinny legs, much like a muscle man you would see in a circus while Shadow was much the same as Bonnie. He jerked his head up when he heard a loud cry and saw a small girl on the floor clutching her bleeding knee. Shadow quickly got up and picked the little girl up. 

“Don’t worry Amanda. The Doctor is in and I know he’s got a lot of new stickers to give out” 

The small girl hiccuped and buried her face into Shadow’s shoulder joint while he quickly explained to her mum where they were going and that they wouldn’t be too long before taking the small girl out the back. 

"Hey Uncle! Did you bring your work?" Jeremy asked as he came round the seats and sat down beside him. 

"Hello, Jeremy. Yes, I have bought them and done a few new ones, though I have yet to see your boss anywhere" 

"He's been a bit bogged down with this new project of his. Don't worry, Shadow is keeping an eye on him, so is Mark during the day too, if he starts overdoing it, I'll step in and put him straight" 

“You know the way you talk about Mike reminds me of how I used to talk about Joey...are you sure…?” 

"Oh God! You sound just like mom! NO! There is nothing between me and Mike! He's married to a really….unusual guy but he is really happy and I am straight. I just...really owe the guy. He saved my life once, he made sure I kept my job when I almost lost it, he was supportive of me with my violent ex and when he went through a really bad thing I couldn't do anything to help him. So I'm here for him now and when you get to know him, I think you'll understand why" 

“I GET THE DOOR DOCTOR MIKE!” Amanda yelled as she held open the heavy door for Mike to come through with Shadow. 

"Thank you, Amanda, why don't you go and show your mommy your plaster and stickers?" said Mike as he pointed over to the girl's mom who was waiting patiently. 

“Thanks for looking after her, Mr Schmidt. She loves coming here and seeing you and the band” 

"And we're always happy to see you both," said Mike "I take it the boys are at Nightmare tonight?" 

"Yep. The boys have been begging their dad for a rematch on one of the games and their plan to get Plushtrap to scare the pants off of him too" 

They both laughed and said goodbye when Jeremy called Mike over. Henry wanted to believe Jeremy but his boss was a catch! Tall, lean, long brown/silver hair, deep green eyes behind thin lens glasses and a gentle smile. Then he saw the walking stick and how the youngish man seemed to favour one of his legs. 

“Mike Schmidt, this is my uncle Henry Stein, Uncle, met Mike, robotics genius and general pain in the butt” Jeremy did the introductions as Mike joined them at their table. 

"It's wonderful to meet you, Mr Stein, Jeremy is always bragging about you and my kids love your cartoons" 

“It’s nice to meet you too Mike and please call me Henry” 

"So Henry, Jeremy said you have something to show me, as well as an idea you wish to pitch to me," said Mike as he leaned forward curiously. 

Henry looked at Jeremy who gave him a thumbs-up as he handed his book over to Mike. 

“It’s actually Jeremy’s idea but I’m all for it. I understand your hosting a “U-tube” channel for the restaurants. What if I did some animations for it? Or even a short cartoon?” 

“I got to admit I like the designs but I’m sorry I know nothing about the animation business. Can you outline what you mainly need for it?” said Mike honestly. Henry quickly went into the designing and storyboarding, then going into the animation, recording of voices and music, followed by editing before showing the finished product. 

"And think of these Mike, Foxy already has loads of stories he can share, they can all do their own voices, plus Freddy and the guys can do their own music," said Jeremy as Mike continued to look over the drawings. 

"I don't know. We're a pizzeria...though I have to admit I really like this idea...but it's a bit out of my comfort zone" said Mike as he leaned on his cane and thought about it. "Tell you what. I'll pay you to do a basic storyline for a few minute cartoons. I'll pay for the materials you need and open up one of the spare rooms out the back for you to use and if I like what I see, then I'll give it the full go-ahead, fair?" 

“What? Mike this is a really good idea…” exclaimed Jeremy but Henry leaned forward to defend Mike. 

"Jeremy, your boss is being smart, if this idea tanks, your boss takes a large hit which can have a knock-on effect for the restaurants. I understand you're also building more animatronics for a new pizzeria?" 

"Yes. I've just finished designing one of them!" Mike practically giggled with joy as he pulled out a large piece of paper that was folded in his pocket. He unfolded it and held it up for Jeremy and Henry to look at. It was a crocodile with a mohawk, in tattered jeans and a leather waistcoat, star-shaped glasses, playing the guitar. 

“His name is Montgomery or Glamrock Monty for short. What do you think? Isn’t he cute?” 

"Cute isn't a word I would use," said Jeremy "A crocodile Mike? Seriously?" 

“What’s wrong with that?” 

"Well, the pizzerias are more known for friendly woodland animals like bears, foxes, rabbits, chickens and even the odd cat and human-shaped ones" 

“I know but I wanted to challenge myself a bit and besides don’t forget about the Nightmare lot” 

“Their still bears, bunnies and a chicken Mike” 

Mike rolled his eyes and looked at Henry “What do you think Henry? Think Monty is a good idea?” 

Henry looked over the design "Are you going for the eighties look?" 

“Yes. I glam rock look...why?” 

"Well jeans and leather vest...is more rock than glam….think more Elton John or David Bowie…" said Henry as he picked up his pencil and started to draw beside Mike's design. Mike and Jeremy watched as Henry sketched away before handing it back to Mike. Monty looked the same save he was now wearing a huge shoulder-padded one piece with space boots. "How about that?" 

Mike gave Henry one of his big rare smiles causing Henry to blush pink. "He's amazing! I never thought about a space look. It's brilliant. Oh, I gotta get back to designing. Thank you so much, Henry! Jer, start making a list with your uncle on what he needs and send me the bill when you are done buying it" 

Mike didn’t wait for a reply as he walked back to his office with a bounce in his step. 

“Damn. That means he’s not going home tonight. I better let Chica know” Jeremy muttered. 

“Why do you need to let the duck know?” Henry asked as he looked at the yellow bird on the stage. 

"Chica is a chicken Uncle and she cooks the pizza dough and the cupcakes during the night so the morning staff don't have to worry but if Mike is here she usually ends up cooking something for him to eat because if she doesn't Mike forgets to eat," said Jeremy. 

“She can cook?” 

“Yep. She is amazing. Not just pizzas or cupcakes either. She even did the wedding feast for Connie’s wedding night and the wedding cake too” 

“Wait, wait, so they move about at night as well or just her?” 

"Oh, they all do. Why?" 

"Well, I usually end up working late some night too…" 

"Oh! No, you're going to have to be a nine to five kinda guy uncle, because there are very strict rules regarding working here in the evening. That is why there is usually only a night guard" 

“That’s not a problem, I’m not a troublemaker and to tell the truth I like working during the night…” 

"Well, there's not so much rules as in rules as you have to pass a certain test that lasts five nights…" 

  
  


\---Line Break---

The Lady walked down the small rickety stairs to the bowls of the Maw. She raised her arm to her face to try not to breathe in the stale, swampy stench that flowed up from the flooded levels that were now a prison. The Lady’s processor...or was it the one before...had placed that person down there, if it was a person anymore, it had been so long after all. She stopped in front of a large floor grating with two large padlocks. She pulled a small key from her pocket and unlocked the padlocks and pulled the grate open with a noisy speech. 

"Old woman! I have come to speak with you" she called down into the murky waters. The water stirred and bubbled as a face, buried in over wrinkly mounds of flesh, peered up at her with dark sorrowful eyes. 

“Why have you come to me Lady?” the creature spat “Came to reminisce old times?” 

“Perhaps” she purred softly “I was wondering if there was ever a time...when you had trouble getting a hold of children...what did you do?” 

The creature lent its head to one side for a few moments and then it slowly started to smile, showing off its rows of tiny sharp teeth, before it tilted its head back and started to laugh. 

“You're running out of children! HA! Has Greed come to such a level that it can no longer be fed?” 

“You are wrong, old one. They are being protected. Someone is protecting them and doing a much better job at it then you and your husband ever did. Tell me, how easy was it? To kill your first child? Did you feel any guilt in killing the children you had sworn to protect?” 

The creature leapt up with a scream but could not reach the Lady who laughed at the creature's failed attempts. 

"Do NOT mock me, Witch! We did what had to be done! There were too many and we were starving!" 

"Do not pretend to be righteous with me Old Hag. In the end, you and I are no different. The only reason I have not ended your worthless existence is because of the loyalty of your husband and sons" 

The creature became still and slowly sank back into the water. They stared at one another. The air around them becomes colder by the second. 

"You are running out of meat to serve at the feasts? Then look at the guests. Too fat, to asleep, too stupid to move" 

“But...they would notice….” 

The granny smiled wickedly "They didn't then, why would they now? Greed blinds people to all sorts of things even eating their relatives" 

The Lady smiled behind her mask. Why had she not thought of that? What a splendid idea. 

“Thank you Old One. Maybe I will allow you a little more than your usual entrails for dinner or perhaps a visit from your dear husband who is missing his wife so” 

The Lady laughed as she slammed the grating down, blocking out the creature's curses, as she padlocked it up tightly. She walked up silently through Maw until she got to the kitchen where the Twin Chefs were busy cleaning up from the last feast. When they noticed her, they fell to their hands and knees and hurried over like cockroaches, their podgy bodies trembled in fear. 

“Well done on your wonderful hard work during these hard times” she cooed “I have a little job for you my sweet little chiefs. Most of the guests are now sleeping off their dinner. I want you to find the fattest one and chop them into tiny little pieces” 

She turned to leave but then had thought "Oh and send a few more fish heads down to our prisoner. I am a lady of my word after all" 

\---Line Break---

It was Belle's and Baby's turn to help Connie look after James. Baby was on her knee joints in the fount of James Moses basket and playing peek a boo with him, enjoying his giggles when she went "Peek a boo". 

“When will James be upgraded to crawl Ms Connie?” Belle asked as she handed Connie a cup of coffee she had gotten from the kitchen for her. 

“It will be a few months yet Belle, he’s only just figured out how to roll over, humans take a lot of time to learn things” 

"I know. I just can't wait! Though I think Big Daddy is more looking forward to it. He's already moved all the breakable things up high even we can't get them" 

Connie chuckled as she took the coffee “I know. I’ve seen him in the middle of the night when James wakes up for his night time feed, reading to him and showing him the pictures, no matter how many times I told him James won’t remember it” 

“I hope he doesn’t grow too big. I love his little toes and fingers” said Baby as she sniffed “Oh dear...Ms Connie...we got a dirty butt here!”

“Oh...one or two…?” Connie cringed as she put down her coffee and her paperwork. 

“Two...a really big number two…” 

Connie pulled a face as she got up “Right, I’ll go and get him something to change into and a clean diaper, you girls get him ready for me?” 

“I’m not wiping his butt!” said Baby quickly as she picked James up. 

“What? That’s not fair! I’ve done it lots!” exclaimed Belle with annoyance. 

"Yeah, but you don't have reflux on your fluids when you see it" giggled Baby as James reached up and pulled on her hair. Then she flinched and bent over slightly as pain short though her body as her servos started to shake violently. 

“Belle! Take!” Belle quickly took James from Baby as he started to cry from being jiggled about. 

“Baby! What is it?” 

“Joints! Hurt! Locking…” Baby cried as oil and water flowed from her optics. The wires were stretching and she could feel it. Sparks flew as she screamed as both her servos and feet snapped off and her body fell to the floor. James screamed and cried as his mother and the other nightmare animatronics came running.

  
  


To Be Continued…

Please review and let me know what you think.    
  



	2. Growing Pains

Before The Dark Times

By 

End Of Grace

Chapter Two: Growing pains. 

Big Daddy loved James from the moment he was brought home, he was his first grand cub after all and most likely going to inherit the place when he was old enough and Connie wanted to retire, so he had to look after him. Big Daddy was a very proud bear and as far as he was concerned James was the best at everything. Best at dribbling, best at farting, best at cooing, even best at filling up his diaper, as far as the over-large animatronic bear was concerned James was number one in everything. Hence the whole idea of something happening to James would cause the bear to throw a fit, hence why security at Nightmare was extremely tight, every animatronic took turns guarding the young infant and Connie...and in some respects Jack too, if they had too. So when high pitch screams followed by James cries, Big Daddy stopped what he was doing, knocked everything out of his way, as he rushed to find the crying child and whatever had upset him. He found Connie standing in the doorway trying to comfort the crying baby, her eyes full of worry, as she looked from him and back in the room. 

“ _ What happened? Is James alright?”  _

“He’s fine big guy, but it’s Baby, something has happened to her, you need to call Mike now”

Big Daddy looked in and saw Belle holding her sister, both were crying while being surrounded by Baby’s broken limbs. 

_ “I’ll call him,”  _ he said as he quickly turned and ran to the main office where the phone was. What the hell had happened to Baby? 

Mike arrived about an hour later by taxi carrying his large tool bag, Plush ran out to grab it from him and help him into the store, while quickly filling him in again about Baby’s condition. 

"We moved her to your workshop out the back Uncle like you said and took all the parts we could find too but it's weird" 

“What is it?” 

“Well her wires… they are pulled to breaking point but it looks like its been happening over time and her joints are all strained too like she’s been stretched” 

Mike frowned as he followed the gold bunny to his office and saw Belle being comforted by Bon Bon. The red-haired twin saw Mike and ran over to him and hugged him tightly. 

“I’m sorry Daddy! I’m so sorry!”

“What are you sorry about sweetheart? Is it something to do with Baby?” 

“She made me promise not to tell. She said she wouldn’t be my sister anymore if I did” 

"Ok. I understand but if it is really serious like this, you need to tell me, otherwise accidents like this can happen, or next time even worse you know?" Belle nodded as Mike patted her hair "Now tell me what Baby didn't want me knowing" 

“She’s growing daddy. She’s taller than me now and her hair is longer too” 

Mike looked confused as he knelt in front of Belle "Can you be more specific?" 

Belle looked nervous “We were taking turns brushing each other’s hairs when I noticed her’s had grown almost a full two inches, so I asked her to stand up so we could measure our hair to prove to her, that hers was longer but when we faced one another, I noticed she was taller then I was, by almost an inch” 

“But we’re animatronics...we can’t grow,” said BonBon, her voice box hiccuped that let Mike know she was really worried. 

“Baby isn’t a normal animatronic though, she is a combination of human, animatronic and magic. Belle, let’s go and see your sister and see what we can do huh?” 

Belle smiled up at Mike and held his hand tightly as she led him into his work show. Baby was laying down on the workbench with her limbs on a side tray. Her eyes glowed brightly as she woke up and looked up at Mike and Belle. 

“Hi Mummy, Belle. I don’t feel very good…” 

“I’m not surprised, little girl, you know you’re meant to tell me when things don’t feel right,” said Mike firmly as he placed his cane to the side and patted Baby on the head “What if it had been a virus or something worse? Next time it might not be just your limbs” 

“Sorry Mummy” 

“I know you are sweetie but I need you to promise me that you will tell me or any of the other humans that you’re not feeling well, so this doesn’t happen again. You almost dropped James!” 

Baby started to cry a mixture of oil and water “I promise mummy! I promise!” 

“Ok, now let’s have a look at you” 

It was as they said, the wires had stretched to the point of snapping and her joints were buckled from being pushed outwards from her growth. Which meant this could happen again until she was old enough...whenever that was. Her hair had indeed grown but that was easy to sort out with a pair of scissors...if she wanted. Mike’s guts twisted. He could see her soul, a bright blue spark in the centre of her chest plate, right next to her pump and her main pipe that held his blood. This was the problem with magic, there was no logical reason for anything, it was just magic. 

“Ok, I’m going to have to remodel your joints and give you extra long wires so they can grow with you and then make a second pair for you Belle” 

“Huh?” Both girls said as they looked at their parents. 

“Well, your twins, right? I can’t have one of my girls growing without the other one can I?” 

Belle smiled as widely as she could as she jumped into Mike’s arms. 

“DADDY!!” 

“MUMMY I WANT A HUG TOO!” Baby cried as she wiggled helplessly on the bench. 

“Alright,” Mike laughed as he hugged the other girl animatronic. 

“But Daddy, are you going to have time, you got to build all those other animatronics for the new place?” Belle asked with some concern knowing how hard her dad worked. 

“It will be fine Belle. I haven’t even finalized the blueprints yet, plus the mall isn’t finished just yet, so I have time to do a few adjustments to both of you and still have plenty of time to build the others. Besides three of them are based on Freddy, Bonnie and Chica, so it’s not going to be too hard for me” Said Mike with a slight sigh “Now that I’ve said that, the world is probably going to come to an end” 

The girls burst out laughing, calling him silly and other such names until Mike joins in their laughter, all the while hiding his intense worry. All the other animatronics simply had a glowing orb of light to show their souls and Belle was no different but Baby she was different. She had a time and date stamped over her head just as humans did. 

\---Line Break---

  
  


Susie Campbell walked though the studio with her head held high, her make up perfect and her clothes fitting and tight to show off her figure. She would show no weakness. She had laughed off people's sympathy over her replacement, although deep down it hurt, and she wanted to rip into everyone that mentioned it but she was saving that for one Joey Drew. She walked up to Miss Rodriguez, Joey's secretary, who looked up at her with large glasses and in some way gave the impression she was looking down at her. 

“I’m here for my appointment with Joey,” Susie said crisply, not liking who the dirty blond was looking at her. 

The secretary rolled her eyes and placed her finger on the buzzer of the office intercom. 

“Sir, your two o’clock is here to see you” 

“What? I told you! No meetings today! I’m busy!” came Joey’s impatient voice. 

“It Ms Campbell sir” 

There was a slight pause before Joey called to let her in. Miss Rodriguez smiled and was almost spiteful as she looked back at Susie. 

“Mr Drew will see you now” 

Susie smiled back though inside her mind she was wringing the woman’s neck as she walked into Joey’s Office. Joey was behind his desk and holding a hand mirror, looking over himself when she came in, clearly not bothered to greet her at the door as he used to. She walked over to the chair and sat down opposite him and waited for him to acknowledge her. 

Joey looked over at her and sighed as he placed the mirror down. 

“Now Susie, I get your mad at me but you gotta understand….” 

“Oh I understand Mr Drew, I understood perfectly when I saw Miss Pendle standing in my spot and reading my lines, I’m guessing the momo just got lost...or not sent at all!” Susie grounded her teeth at the last part because it was more likely the truth. 

“Well the truth is I thought you were ready for this other project concerning Alice Angel but now looking at you...well I’m not so sure” 

Susie stiffened and sat bolt straight. Just what the hell was he implying?

“Alice Angel is quite a gal, right? She is beautiful, talented, graceful, a real angel. So to bring her to life, that person has to embody all of that, well I’m sure being the daughter of a butcher you will understand when I say no matter how you dress it up, mutton can’t compete with lamb”

“I don’t have to listen to…” 

“Here look at yourself,” said Joey ignoring her as he tossed the mirror across the desk “You’ve dolled yourself up like Marilyn Monroe and from a distance, you look stunning, but up close, you see the...imperfections, the cheap clothes, the cracked nails, the greasy hair, someone like that can’t be an angel” 

Susie wanted to jump up and slap Joey hard and storm out, but her body refused to move, pinned down by Joey’s cruel words and keen observation. Joey wheeled himself around his desk until he was next to her and picked up the mirror and held it so Susie could see her face. She was crying, she looked a mess, she quickly wiped away her tears and tried to tie herself up but Joey gently placed his hand on top of hers. 

“But you know what Susie, I know, how much Alice means to you, you two have a really strong connection right? The problem is Susie is you. How much do you want to be Alice Angel? What are you willing to do to become her?” 

“What? What do you mean?” 

“I mean Susie, do you want to spend your life just being a voice for chairs, mushrooms and chickens? Or going back to the stage playing boring dumb characters til your too old to remember your lines or until someone better looking and young comes along. Someone that doesn’t need to hide the lines around their eyes with makeup. Or do you want to live forever, being beautiful, being adored by everyone? Do you want to wake up every morning knowing you're perfect? Knowing you’ll be loved by millions. Do you want to be Alice Angel Susie?” 

Joey’s words were hypnotic. Susie looked at her face in the mirror but it wasn’t her reflection staring back it was Alice’s. Did she want to be Alice? Of course, she did, she would give anything! 

“Yes. I want to be Alice! I want to be an angel” 

"I don't know," said Joey in a sing-song voice "You don't sound too sure and I don't think your willing to do what it takes"

Susie stood up and slammed her fist on the desk. “I will do anything, Joey! ANYTHING!” 

Joey turned back to her with a slight smile “Anything? Even give up your human life?” 

Susie looked stunned “Huh?” 

“I mean to become Alice you have to shred your human skin. Rid yourself of everything that is Susie Campbell. Can you do that...Alice? Can you rid yourself of your human imperfections, embrace the ink and become who you have always meant to be?” 

Susie’s mind whirled. What did Joey mean by embracing the ink? What did he want her to do? Did that even matter? She was going to become Alice! She would be beautiful. 

“What do I need to do?”

Joey smiled “Now I want you to be a hundred and one per cent certain you want to do this Susie. There is no going back afterwards” 

“What do I need to do Mr Drew, tell me, and I will do it” 

“Alright. Come back here tonight when everyone else is gone. I’ll leave a light on for you. Then after tonight, Susie Campbell will be no more and there will only be Alice Angel and you will fulfil your every dream….and mine” 

  
  


\---Line Break---

Henry looked around his new office and couldn’t help but smile. Sure it, he could still hear the kids and the band but it was a pleasant background noise compared to what it had been like at the studio. He had a large bright window to look out of, a lovely new desk and furniture, Mike had been very generous considering he wasn’t fully sold on the idea, but there was one thing he was uncertain about. It was this weird five nights thing his nephew had explained to him. If he wanted to work through the night he was first expected to pass this test to gain the animatronics trust. Weren’t they just robots though? Alright, they were highly advanced machines but still machines, right?

“Excuse me, Mr Stein? Mrs Schmidt is waiting for you on the main floor” said Emily as she knocked on the door. 

"Oh thank you, Ms Emily. I'll be out in a moment" said Henry as he started to straighten up his tie. Ah yes, the meeting with the lawyer, he was a bit surprised to find out that all the legal work was done by the head of the Schmidt legal firm, but he supposes since it was her son's company she would be concerned and invested in his work too. He walked on to the main floor and looked around for Mrs Schmidt. She wasn't hard to miss in her three-piece suit and expensive-looking hairstyle and jewellery but what surprised him was the small golden bunny animatronic that was sitting next to her and holding several papers. 

“Hello, Mrs Schmidt? I’m Henry Stein” he said as he shook her hand. She was a very attractive lady, elegant looking for a woman of her age, she had a few wrinkles and grey hairs. 

“It’s lovely to meet you, Mr Stein, your nephew has been a great help to me and my son, you should be very proud” 

“I am and you must be proud of everything your son has achieved,” said Henry as he slid into the booth. There was a faint gleam of shame on Mrs Schmidt's face for a moment but she quickly smiled again as if it didn’t happen. 

“I am now and if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have Gwen here to help me, can’t be without her these days” The bunny practically beamed as she handed Mrs Schmidt some papers. “This is your contract. Please look it over and fill in any details and then sign” 

Henry took out his reading glasses and started to read the contract when Tiny came over with a tray with a china cup, a cup of oil and a takeaway Freddy coffee cup. 

"Ah thank you very much, my dear. I trust Freddy is looking after you Tiny?" said Mrs Schmidt as she took the drinks, placing the cup in front of herself, the oil to Gwen and the coffee to Henry. The little animatronic nodded his head and practically danced on the spot with a wide grin on his face. "I'm glad to hear it but it seems you have forgotten something…" 

The little animatronic looked confused for a moment and tapped the side of his head gently with his servo. After a few moments, he snapped his fingers and reached into his pocket and held out a small red balloon and pointed to it. 

“That’s right dear. Will you blow it up for me?” 

Tiny squealed happily and stamped his feet in excitement as he ran over to his station to blow up the balloon while the two humans laughed softly at his antics. 

“You're very good with the animatronics Mrs Schmidt. I’ve never seen the small one wait on a table before” said Henry as Tiny bought over the balloon and Mrs Schmidt patted him gently on the head before sending him back to his station. 

“He reminds me of Balloon Boy before he got his upgrades, though whenever I go to the Cove, he always insists on serving me as well, he trained Tiny you know. I know…” Mrs Schmidt laughed at Henry’s confused face “that my son could have placed the information inside of him, but Mike felt it would give Balloon Boy a bit more responsibility and later have him ready to help Donna out with training new people at the store. How are you getting on there?” 

"I have to say you're very good Mrs Schmidt. It says here if Mr Schmidt decides not to go ahead with the project, I will be allowed to keep my work or sell it to Mr Schmidt on the agreed sum, most businesses would insist on keeping the work" 

"Yes, I said so too, but Mike insisted. He is good like that, sadly that doesn't make him a great businessman but I think I would much rather he be a good one" there was a mixture of regret and respect in Mrs Schmidt's tone that made Henry wonder if Mrs Schmidt was always on her son's side. He looked back down at the contract again and noticed something unusual. 

“Um, Mrs Schmidt, about this clause here. About working late nights” 

“Oh? What about it?” 

"Well, I'm used to working long hours and sometimes like to work late just to get my work done. It says here since I'm not an essential member of staff I can only work during the opening hours and not after" 

"That is correct. The only people allowed in or after opening hours are the cleaning staff and kitchen staff but even they must be out before midnight and not allowed back in until six am the next morning. The only people allowed in between those hours are those who have taken the five-day test, which is to say the managers, the security guards and myself" 

“Yourself? You took the test?” 

“Oh yes...but I only made it to the third night. Technically I should have been tested again at a later date but the animatronics all agreed that I was trustworthy and allowed it” 

“I don’t understand...the animatronics were the ones that decided…?” 

Mrs Schmidt looked over at Henry and gave him a curious glance “Have you interacted with any of the animatronics?” 

“A little…” 

"I suggest interacting with them a bit more. How are you meant to draw them if you know anything about them? They have a long history, at least the ones here and at the Cove, the Nightmare bunch are quite colourful and The Sister animatronics... is well...I'll let you decide on what to think of them. Though I will tell you to be careful of Fraezar, he will insist on hugs, is very sensitive and...well not all that bright which I think just adds to his charm. Shall I tell you the reason why you have to take the test?" 

Henry leaned forward “Please?” 

"A long time ago, even before my son came here as a security guard, there was one security guard and one-day a guard that broke the animatronics trust so badly that the test had to be put into place. The day guard killed five children and stuffed their bodies into the spare suits out the back. The night guard was paid off by someone to mess with one of the animatronics wirings which led the animatronic to bite the head off an abusive parent and put it out of order for a very long time. So you see the animatronics do not trust the guards or anyone else that shouldn't be here during the night hours, they perceive them as a threat and treat them as such. That is why the restaurants are hardly ever burgled because it is a well-known fact that if the animatronics capture you, they will stuff you into a spare animatronic suit and that will be that. It's certainly not the nicest ways to go" 

The image of Freddy covered in human blood made Henry shiver as he quickly signed the contract "I think I'm going to have to get used today work for a while at least till I get to know the animatronics" 

"Good idea Mr Stein," said Mrs Schmidt as she handed the contract to Gwen and held her hand out for Henry to shake. "I look forward to seeing your work" 

  
  


\---Line Break---

The twins walked down the halls quietly, holding each other's hand while holding large meat cleavers with the other as they walked down the unfamiliar halls. They were not allowed to be on this level usually. This level was reserved for guests only. It was too posh and too grand for the likes of them. Yet the Lady had given them a job to do and they would do it, it was for their ma, after all, the Lady was so kind and looking after their ma now she was so poorly. They would be good boys and do what the Lady asked. Maybe if they were really good she would let them see her, they hadn't seen her in a long time and they missed her terribly. They nodded to each other and walked off into two separate rooms where a single guest was sleeping off the earlier feast. The twin walked slowly over, being ever so quiet, not that he needed to be as the guest's snores could drown out a storm. He pushed the head back and lifted the many folds of flab that hid the neck. He paused for a moment when the guest seemed to struggle to breathe under his weight and coughed and snorted loudly before returning to snore. Again the chief lifted the extra skin and lifted the cleaver high and bought it down with as much focus as he could. Which turns out wasn't enough as it only went half though, the guest wakes to try to scream and escape but the chief slams the cleaver down again and the only noise heard was the heavy thump of the head rolling to the floor. Blood poured from the body like a heavy rainfall as the chief went to work cutting the body into pieces so it would fit in his sack. Once the meat was inside the sack and he was able to carry it, the chief used the small little bathroom to the side to wipe clean his face and hands before heaving the sack on to his back. No one would question the blood on his apron, he was chief after all, things tended to get messy in the kitchen. His twin was waiting for him in the hallway, he too was dripping with blood from his apron and sack, but he smiled when he saw his brother and held out his clean hand for him to take. They walked back happily in a job well done leaving a trail of puddles of blood in their wake. 

The feast was going well. Stacks of meat everywhere and no one was questioning it. It was simply too delicious. The Lady watched from above as many guests forgot their knives and forks and simply used their hands to pick up the juicy steaks and tear it apart with their teeth, juices and blood dribbling from their mouths where the meat was so rare. 

“More Meat!” “More Sausages!” “More Wine!” They cried greedily even though there was still meat and wine on the tables but the Lady put in the order for more food to be brought up. One twin was cutting up a large leg when the order came and asked his twin to do the sausages. The twin huffed in annoyance as he hated making them but he went to the bench where they put all the children's kidneys, livers and other worthless things into the grinder and then followed by the press that made them come out like sausages. He then threw a dozen of them into a large frying pan and watched them sizzle. The first twin had finished making steaks out of the legs and was making chops out of the arms. The prison down below was going to have a real treat tonight with all those fingers and toes. 

The Janitor herded the group of children into the Mew nursery. Most of them looked so lifeless and skinny. He was going to have to feed them up a bit before they could be...well less said about that. Most of these had come from the slave trade, mostly born from prostitutes or other slaves, they don't know what the world was like outside of this one, never tasted joy or even hope, probably don't even know how to smile. A small child couldn't climb into the bed, it was too high for it, so he reached over and lifted it in, making sure the high railings were not going to fall. The child looked up at him and blinked its large dark eyes at him before its lips moved upwards in a weird sort of smile, showing it only had a few teeth and they were wonky in any case, he couldn't see it but he could hear the child cooing up at him. He felt a small ping in his chest. He hated feeling it. Using his long arms he reached up to the top cupboard and unlocked it. They kept the toys for the "good" children up there and bought down a falling apart bear and handed it to the child. The child groped it tightly before curling up on the bed and falling into a deep sleep. The Janitor sighed and went to leave, even turning off the lights, but he stopped and looked over to where the child was and with his long arms felt around for the sheet before lifting it over the child and tucking it in for the night. He then pulled away and shook his head, after all these years, he was still a soft touch. 

\---Line Break---

Henry walked up to the Sister just a little after nine when their main staff came in to get things ready for the lunch rush. He wanted to quickly take some pictures and watch the animatronics when they weren't dealing with kids. Plus he had not decided who to animate just yet, though Jeremy told him it was best to do Freddy first, since he was the head bear and all, and didn't want the bear upset. Henry simply rolled his eyes at that. It was so odd how his usually serious nephew was, well almost childish, over the robots. Oops! Sorry, animatronics, he had been warned about that, the "animatronics" found it offensive. He picked up his bag with his drawing gear and knocked on the door. Luigi opened the door with a large smile and stepped aside for him. 

“Mr Stein right? Mr Schmidt told me you were coming. Now I really have to warn you. We have a rule here at the Sister...when they come into work they must hug Freazar the bear. He insists” 

“Seriously?” said Henry in disbelief but was surprised at the small line of people queuing up in front of the large pink and white cuddly bear, who was happily hugging each member of staff and wishing them well. 

"I know it seems odd, but it's surprisingly really good for morale, you have a bad morning but when you get here, you get a big cuddle for a teddy bear asking if your ok, it just makes your day somehow and you feel better and you're able to get on with work with a slight smile. Plus if you're here all day you have to hug him goodbye as well. Plus if you're just having a crappy day you can always ask for one too. He loves giving them" Said Luigi as he led Henry over to Freazar who was saying goodbye to the last of the kitchen staff. 

“Hi Mr Manager sir, do you need another morning hug?” Freazar asked as he held his arms out to hug him. 

"No, I'm good for now Freazar, I'm just showing Mr Stein about, he's the new member of staff that the Doctor told you about," said Luigi as he pushed Henry forward. The Pink and white bear looked down at Henry, his little white ears wiggling back and forth, his pink cheeks glowing happily. 

"It's nice to meet you, Mr Stein. Can I hug you please?" as the overly friendly bear danced on the spot. 

"Um...I'm not much of a hugger," said Henry and jumped as he heard Luigi gasping. He also felt a couple of heated glare coming from a Fox animatronic, that might be Freazar’s girlfriend. Freazar’s ears were now hanging low, the light in his cheeks went out as he lowered his arms. 

“Oh...ok...I understand” the bear said sadly as he looked down at the floor with a sad slump. 

Henry had never felt so guilty before. He felt like he had just kicked a puppy, a homeless, abused, puppy with a limp. 

“Wait I didn’t mean that I didn’t want one...just a small one...ok?” he finished lamely. 

“GOODIE!” cried Freazar as he wrapped his servos around Henry’s waist and hugged him tightly. Once Henry got his breath back, he was surprised by how soft and warm the bear was, he really was cuddly, he couldn't help but hug back. Then Freazar released him and smiled down at him and kissed his cheek. 

“I hope we can be friends now Mr Stein” 

"I sure we can Freazar," said Henry as the door opened and a mopy looking young man came in wearing a security uniform. 

"ADAM!" The marshmallow bear cried as he ran from the stage over to the young man and quickly hugged him tightly. 

“Who is that?” Henry asked as he watched the bear coo and cuddle the teen who was trying to assure the bear that he was fine. 

"Oh that's Adam Edge, our security guard...at least for now, his mom really doesn't like him working here and is trying to get him to take another job, despite the kid not wanting too," said Luigi with a bit of concern "and from the looks of things I think he's had another fight with her this morning. Excuse me please while I'll go and talk to him" 

Henry watched as the manager went over and started to speak to the teen in a soft voice and rested a hand on his shoulder. It was nice to see a manager taking some concern over his staff, Joey was never like that, hell, it was likely that Joey even remembered your name, let alone worry if you were alright. The more time he spent seeing how Mike worked and treated his staff made him realise just how bad a boss Joey was. There was a polite tap on his shoulder. He turned to be greeted by two rows of very sharp looking teeth. He looked a little higher to see it was the white and pink fox animatronic. 

"Er..um...hello there…" said Henry nervously as he held out his hand. The fox smiled and grasped his hand tightly in its servo. 

"Nice to meet ya, Mr Stein, names Fox '' said a deep male New York accent "Just a word to the wise, since your new and all, never, ever, refuse Freazar as a hug. It upsets him and the one thing I do not like is my missus upset, you understand me?" 

"Umm...yes, sir?" 

"Good," said Fox as he released Henry's hand and patted him on the back. "Now Luigi is a good manager but if ya want to speak to the brains of this outfit, you need to go and speak to Tony there, he more or less runs the place" 

Henry looked over to where Fox was pointing. There was a tall, humanoid cat person in a butler suit talking to a few humans with an iPad in his servos. 

"Ok, so Tony is in charge, is there any more animatronics here?" Henry asked looking around. 

"Toni and the kids are probably out the back arguing over CDs again and Matron said she would try and do the ballerina thing again in Balloria's old party room. I'll give ya the tour, come on" said Fox as he started to lead Henry down one of the main corridors and for the first time Henry wondered what he had gotten himself into. 

\----Line Break----

Susie stepped out of the cab and quickly paid the driver. She waited until he left before looking around. The studio looked deserted, even the streets had no one on them, and the street lights were flickering giving it eerie shadows and a sense of foreboding. She tried to walk with an air of confidence but the sounding silence was deafening and the shadows seemed to be swarming around her to try and pull her away from the studio. She ran into the building and slammed the door shut behind her before leaning up against it, her heart racing. She was being silly. It wasn't like she was doing anything wrong. Anything illegal. Besides, it was only her and Joey here right? And he was in a wheelchair. She could easily get away from him right if this whole thing was some sort of horrible prank. Trying to steady her nerves, she took several large breaths and repeated a mantra that her dear mother always used to say to her. 

“Dreams come true Susie. Dreams come true” 

“Hey there Susie!” 

Susie screamed and then quickly covered her mouth when she saw it was Joey wheeling himself towards her with a flashlight. He had that damn smile on his face. The one she longed to smack clear off it. 

"Sorry about that Susie, didn't mean to scare you, to tell the truth, I wasn't sure you would turn up" 

"When I made my mind up about something Mr Drew there is very little that will stand in my way," said Susie with as much spirit as she could muster. Joey just smiled and wheeled himself around and started rolling himself down the hall, clearly expecting her to follow. The studio looked eerie with all the lights off but what made it worse was the sound of the machine pumping ink throughout the building. It might have been Susie's overactive imagination but it sounded like some kind of hungry beast, roaring from starvation and looking for its next meal. 

“Why are all the lights off? I can hardly see a thing” she muttered. 

“Can’t have anyone knowing we're here silly. They'll ask questions and it's best at the moment that they don't know the answers just yet" said Joey jovially, but there was something almost ominous about his tone. They went down a couple of levels, though dark corridors to what felt like the furthest part of the floor and from the cobwebs Susie doubted anyone came down here. Joey pushed open a door to a practically empty room save for six burning candles on the floor, lighting up an odd diagram that had been painted there. 

"Ok Susie, leave your coat and bag there and go and stand in the middle of the circle," said Joey as he turned to her and noticed the slight edge of fear in Susie's eyes. "Sus...Alice. You do want this, don't you? You want to be beautiful don't you?" 

Susie jumped at his words, her eyes became hard as she threw down her bag and ripped off her coat, before stepping into the circle with her fists clenched tightly and her head held high. Joey wheeled around the circle "I want you to close your eyes and concentrate on my voice and answer my questions" 

Susie closed her eyes and nodded her head to let Joey know she was ready. She was ready to be beautiful. She could hear Joey's wheelchair squeak on the floorboards as he continued to circle her. 

“What is your name?” 

“Susie…” She heard Joey cough “No. I’m Alice Angel” 

“Again” 

“I am Alice Angel” 

“And what does Alice look like?” 

“She is beautiful! Long black hair, perfect skin, deep beautiful eyes. She has the perfect figure and her halo is glowing. She is just so beautiful” 

“Again” 

She repeated her words, again and again, going into more detail every time, every time she would be more and more beautiful. Susie jerked slightly when Joey took her hand and placed something made of glass in her hand. It was heavy. Warm. Moving. 

“Keep your eyes closed now Alice. I want you to think of a long mirror. I want you to see yourself in that mirror Alice. See how you want to be. See Alice Angel” 

Susie could see it in her mind's eye. A large grand mirror in a gold frame showing her reflection. Her hourglass frame coated in a mini black dress, with long black gloves with tiny feet with high heel shoes. She had flawless skin, kissable lips, seductive eyes with silky black hair. She had the cutest little horns and the most beautiful halo. She was perfect. 

"Ok, in your hand is what is going to make you into Alice Angel, but I have to warn you, Susie, once you take that, you can never be poor, boring, ugly Susie Campbell again…" Joey warned but smiled overjoyed as Susie raised the flask of ink to her lips. 

“There is no Susie! I am Alice Angel!” 

She opened her mouth and it attacked. She didn’t even have a moment to tilt her head back when the ink forced itself down her throat and started to spread. It was burning all the blood out of her veins, choking her heart, and filling her lungs. Ink poured out of her pores, nose and eyes, absorbing her skin. Her brain was swimming in the ink, she couldn’t think, she couldn’t move or scream as the ink started to devour her bones. She fell. She kept falling. She could see but couldn’t do anything. She was in some kind of dark inky well with only a little light above her which she just couldn’t reach and the voices surrounded her, crying and screaming. Something was picking her up, moving her, but where? 

“Don’t worry my dear. Soon you will be perfect, just like I promised and everyone will love you” 

That sounded nice but why couldn’t she see? Why couldn’t she move? Where the hell was whoever that was taking her. Suddenly it went dark. 

Joey had scooped up most of Susie’s ink remains from her clothes and carried the puddle over to the machine and placed the ink inside. The machine howled and rattled. Ink churned and gurgled, Joey pretended or simply didn’t hear the human cries as he rubbed his hands and waited. There was a loud chunk and a groan and a large thick blob came out of the nozzle. It fell to the floor with a plop, It then wiggled around like a perthitic slug. He waited for a few minutes to see if it took shape but it simply wriggled about helplessly. He snorted through his nose and pulled out his mobile and hit a number. 

"Tom! IT DIDN'T WORK! What do you mean? Put in a template? What the hell am I paying you for? Yes, I know what time it is and I also know that time is money and you're wasting both! I'm going to give you one last chance to show me some results that are worth a damn otherwise your arse will be kissing the sidewalk!" 

Joey snapped his phone shut and looked down at the ugly slug. He couldn't leave it out. Gods know what it would get in too. Picking up the shovel he had used to carry Susie's remains, he picked up the slug and lifted it back into the machine. Waste not, want not and all that. Damn. He was counting on the girl but maybe she just wasn't good enough. He would have to consult with the book again. There had to be something they were missing. He hummed Bendy's theme tune as he wheeled himself away from the studio, completely deaf to the sound of crying coming from within the machine. 

  
  


\----Line Break---

Taylor was singing and dancing along with Freddy and the band when he remembered something. He ran over to his mom who was sitting with all the other moms and babies. 

“Mom! Mom! Do you have my drawing? The one I made for Freddy?” Taylor asked as he started to look down his mother’s handbag. 

"Er...Oh no, sweetie, I think I left it in the car" said his mom as she looked down at him from her conversation. 

“Can I go and get it? I want to give it to Freddy”

“Honey it's in the car in the busy car park” 

“It's not that far and I’ll come right back. Please. Please. Please” Taylor knew if he made enough noise his mom would give in. His mom rolled her eyes and he knew he had won. She reached into her bag and pulled out her keys. She handed them over but held them still. 

“You are to come straight back! No talking to strangers and remember to lock the car afterwards” 

Taylor smiled at his mom and held the keys tightly as he wandered over to the doors and pushed them open. It was quite cool outside and the sun was setting behind the tall buildings. The car was only four down from the front and Taylor knew to stay close to the cars but to make sure the cars were not on before walking past them. He opened the car door and looked in the front seat for his drawing for Freddy.

"Got it!" he cheered as he picked it up and slammed the door shut before clicking on the button on this mom's keys to lock the car. He looked down at his drawing and smiled. He hoped Freddy would like it. A large shadow cast over him, making him shiver before he turned around, as he clenched his picture to his chest. It was a tall person...a man by the looks of it, but he had a sack over his head with one tiny hole to see through. He was wearing big welly boots, thick gloves and a huge raincoat despite it being a warm evening. On top of the sack was a hunter's hat, the kind that his grandad wears when he goes hunting, it was just as dirty and beat up too. Leaning up against the car was a large shotgun and lantern. The Hunter placed a finger to where his lips would be and made a "shh" noise as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a large sack. Taylor screamed and ran back to the restaurant as fast as his little legs could carry him. He slammed into the glass door forgetting he had to pull not push as he quickly looked around and saw the Hunter coming after him. He let out another scream and with a quick pull, he bolted inside and went running up to his mother crying out loud. 

“Mom! Mom! A BAD MAN! HE HAD A SACK! HE CHASED AFTER ME!” 

Shadow and Sooty instantly put down their instruments and ran outside as Freddy went to get Jeremy and Mike. Mike came out of his office and went straight to Taylor and looked the boy over as Jeremy with Freddy came out of the office, not looking amused. 

“He had a sack on his head and an even bigger sack to put me in!” Taylor sobbed. 

"Jeremy, tell me you got the guy on camera," said Mike but Jeremy shook his head and even jerked it for Mike to come over to him. 

"Sorry, Mike but when I noticed the kid leaving I followed him with the outside camera. He was alone the whole time. He was fine one minute then something spooked him and he came running back in but nobody followed him" 

"Taylor isn't known for telling tales Jeremy," said Freddy as his processor whirled his memory on the child. "And he's not prone to fits either" 

Shadow and Sooty came back in, the large purple bear looking angry as he held a sack in his servo and handed it to Jeremy. 

“Found it just by the cars but there are no footprints anywhere, not even on the green surrounding the car park” 

"Jeremy, go over that video again and then send it to me, Shadow come with me outside," said Mike as he gave a loud whistle. "Ok, everyone. Myself and Shadow are going to make sure everything is safe out there and that the man is gone but to be on the safe side, Shadow and Sooty will be escorting you to your cars for the rest of the evening" 

Everyone seemed to relax a bit as Mike and Shadow walked back outside. Once he was outside, he felt it, his eyes started to burn and his fingers tingled. Something had been here. Something...not quite human. The dark almost sooty footprints that stained the tarmac going back and forth from the cars, obviously from where it had chased Taylor to the restaurant. He gritted his teeth and slammed his cane down hard on the ground. Blue lighting zapped from his cane and fried the black marks away with a sizzle. 

“Dad...is something wrong?” Shadow asked not liking the heated anger look on his normally kind parent. 

“Yes Shadow, something is very wrong and it has tried to come here to snatch a child, not on my bloody watch!” Mike hissed as he matched back into the restaurant, with Shadow in tow. Mike walked up to Emily the manager and gave her his orders. 

“Your to make sure everyone, customer and staff leave here safely tonight and tomorrow, work out some kind of buddy system just in case. Secondly, call all of the other restaurants and have them go on high alert, a child so much as mentions someone hanging about, even if we can’t see them, are to be taken seriously and their to follow your orders as well about the customers and the staff. Safety is the number one thing, understand?” 

"Yes sir," said Emily as she walked quickly to her office to make the phone calls as Mike walked to the security room. Jeremy was looking over the video again with Freddy looking over his shoulder. 

"Mike, no matter what angle I put the cameras, I can't find whoever…" Jeremy stopped when he saw the look on Mike's face and sighed "Ok. What are we dealing with?" 

“I don’t know but it's very bad…play the video for me” 

Jeremy played it from the moment Taylor closed the car door. Mike leaned in close, his jaw dropped as he frowned, as he slammed on the pause button. 

“Mike…? Mike what is it?” said Freddy. 

"I...don't know. It's...black...man-shaped but that's it. It was after Taylor but there was something desperate about its actions. I don't think it's from around here" said Mike "And the problem we have when or if it comes back, is that I'm the only one that can see it"

"And if whatever attacked here goes to the other pizzerias….one unwatched child..." said Freddy, his optics widening. 

“Will be the first kidnapped kid” Jeremy moaned as he looked up at the video screen, still unable to see the monster that was chasing Taylor. 

To Be Continued….

PLEASE REVIEW TO LET ME KNOW YOU LIKE THIS FIC!!


	3. Magic

Before The Dark Times

By

End Of Grace

A/N: Hello all. I hope you are keeping safe and well in these troubled times. I know it's hard for all of us right now and I will try and update a lot more if I can, to try and keep your spirits up. 

Chapter 3: Magic 

She sat on a small bench, on a cliffside, looking over the sea. She sat there crying as she did most days, for various reasons. One of her many dolls broke, she was lonely, she was bored, The Butler was late with her food, she was forced to wear the same old boring dress day after day and so on. It had been so long since she saw another person other than the Butler, she was aware there was someone else in the house but he was not allowed to interact with her and vice versa, on mother's orders. She wondered when she last saw her mother, it had been a long time she knew, but she had an important job for the Lady and could not always come back to visit. Papa was gone too. He had gone to see the Lady about letting her go out and see the world for a little while and had not returned. Deep down she was worried something had happened to him. He and the Lady often butted heads over her, as did he and mother, but he always came back, apologized for not being able to change their minds and sat and played with her. She missed him the most and hoped the Lady was not being too horrible to him. She hated the Lady and didn't trust her, neither did her papa, but mother took to her instantly and agreed with whatever the Lady wanted. Soon they were living in a really large posh house and she had all the dolls she could play with while her mother had all the jewellery and wealth she wanted, papa went along just to make her happy even though he wasn't. She looked down at the broken doll beside her. It was the newest one but it was so poorly made, it had not lasted long, she sighed and placed her hand on it and watched as it turned to dust and blew away in the wind.   
"Madam?"   
She gritted her teeth, her whole body stiffened as she gripped the bench tightly.   
"What?" she hissed. She didn't need to look around to know who it was, it was the Butler, as always.   
"You must return to the Nest now madam. Dinner is about to be served"   
"Fish fingers...again?"   
"Yes madam" was the only thing the Butler knew how to cook, at least without ruining it.   
"I want to stay here for now…" she said as she looked over at the horizon. Suddenly she was levitating over the ground. She turned and growled at the Butler who simply continued on his way back to the Nest with her floating behind her. She hated the nest. She hated the Butler but above all, she hated having powers that made it necessary for her to be stuck here. 

\---Line Break---

Tap and Tin is the local bar where the humans of the Freddy Fazbear group go to socialize with their fellow humans and be normal...well as normal as they could get anyway. The Bar was quiet during these hours and that is what the group liked, as they gathered around their usual table and pulled up an extra chair to place the baby carrier on, as the barman bought over their order, having long ago committed it to memory.   
"Your little boy there is growing like a weed I swear," he said jovially as he looks down at the small boy in the carrier. The boy looked up at him and gave him a crooked smile.   
"You're telling me" smiled Connie "I swear I blink and he goes up by two sizes"   
"If you need to warm anything up for him let me know, we've got a microwave out the back if you need it for milk" The barkeeper wouldn't usually offer this but the group were a nice happy group and never caused any trouble, plus they always paid their tab on time, and unlike most were always polite and friendly.   
"Oh Thank you very much, I'll let you know but the little monster had his feed before we left so hopefully he'll be alright, though I've noticed that he's a bit of a glutton like his dad and his uncles."  
The Barkeeper laughed as the men at the table all booed and moaned at the laughing Connie and left them to it, making a small note to check on them later for refills.   
"Heard from Meg the other day," said Jeremy, "she rang Freddy's thinking you would be there Mike, said everything is coming along well and the staff have been given strict instructions on how they're meant to treat the animatronics at the park"   
"Any mention of our friends?" Mike asked, not daring to use Matt's name in public, you never know who would overhear.  
"Doing well, they come over mostly at night and pick up their orders and such, says he and Jupitar bicker like a married couple"   
"Speaking of bickering like old married couples, have you and Freddy made up yet Mark?"   
Jack asked as he looked over at the dark-haired guard who pushed his glasses up his nose and snorted.   
"I don't know what you're on about," said Mark sourly.   
"Please! If the tension were any thicker when the two of you are in the same room you could cut it with a knife" said Jeremy as he took a sip from his pint "You know Freddy didn't mean anything by it, Mark. He was probably thinking of an excuse to get Tiny out of there and remembered how good you were with, Shadow, Sooty and the Fredlings when they were all cubs, you remember, when you had them all dressed as security officers"   
"I know that!" Mark snapped "and that wasn't what he meant! He meant I was incompetent, he has always thought that! Can we change the subject, please? Like why were we on high alert for a while?"   
All eyes turned to Mike, who paled slightly, he had been waiting for this, they were going to ask and he would lie and they would see right through him and then demand the truth and then the shit would fly. Looking back on his actions now, he could see he had been stupid and even gullible, but really what else could he have done? He didn't know anything about the Joys of Creations and even after talking to Afton senior, he was even more confused about it but knew from Net's warning that it was dangerous.   
"Ok. I know you all think I'm being overprotective…"   
"It's not that we don't believe you...or the kids...but we just don't see anyone…" Connie quickly assured Mike.   
"Some of the adults are complaining about the animatronics are guarding the car parks" added Mark "though Foxy agrees with you Mike, better be safe than sorry"   
"But that doesn't change the fact that we could be dealing with something that we can not fight since we can't see them," said Jeremy "Though I'm wondering how the hell you can see them through, Mike? Is it part of that...you know...thing…"   
"Could be…"   
"But how can you see them now? I mean….could you see them before? Have you gotten stronger in some way?" Connie asked and then thought out loud with worry "Did something happen at Critter County? Could Afton put a curse on you or something?"   
Mike looked down at the table, not meeting their eyes, but he could feel them staring and noticing the air around the table becoming both tense and sad. Jeremy sighed and leaned back in his seat, Jack and Connie gripped each other's hands while Mark leaned forward and crossed his arms on the table.   
"Mike," he said softly "Talk to us"   
Mike took a deep breath and sat up straight "I spoke to Afton at Critter County about the Joys of Creation, he was self-taught while he said I had a natural talent. He said the more souls he had the more powerful he became and the reason his son wanted more souls was to cast a very powerful spell...one that would lock all the souls and people within an...I don't know... an alternate reality or bubble where he would be in charge"   
"You mean he was going to make Critter County his own amusement park with all those kids trapped inside those animatronics?" said Jack as he swallowed a lump in his throat.   
Mike nodded "Afton said if I wanted to release the souls from their prisons I had to learn more about the Joys of Creation and he said he would...teach me…"   
The other four adults jolted in their seats, gapping at Mike, as dread dripped into their souls.   
"He said I wouldn't be able to release them because I couldn't see them or the state of them, the colour and dates…"   
"Fuck Mike! You fucking Listened to him! You idiot!" Jeremy hissed quietly so no one could hear him swear.   
"I know that now! But at the time I...I don't know...I just wanted to rescue the kids...and Afton was right I needed to know how to see souls properly, unlock more of my gift as he said to do it"   
"So what? You're seeing ghosts all the time now?" Mark asked, "You said something about colour and dates…"   
Mike looked around the bar and then pointed to an old man at the back drinking a pint of beer.   
"See that old man back there? He was born October seventh 1943, his soul is mostly white with a few grey areas. It has a very bright blue hue to it too, he's lonely, most likely lives alone and has hardly if no family to speak of"   
"So you're saying you can now see people's souls...even if they're alive?" said Connie, her heart thumping hard in her chest. "Even ours?"   
Mike cast his eyes down and nodded.   
"But you can turn it off, right? It's not like you have to see it all the time right?" said Mark in a hopeful voice.   
"That was the one thing Afton didn't tell me," said Mike with a sad smile. "After I lost consciousness after performing that spell I thought it would just turn off but I opened my eyes and I could still see everything. It's also why I can see whatever it is that tried to snatch that child from Freddy's car park"   
"Wait, wait, wait a second. You're saying that even now, Right now, you can see the dates we were born over our heads, the colour of our souls and whatever...since Critter County and you didn't tell us?" growled Jeremy.   
Connie looked horrified while Jack's face went blank. Mark looked really upset while Jeremy was pissed.   
"I'm going to get another round," said Jeremy as he stormed up to the bar, Jack got up and followed him, no doubt trying to calm him down while Connie moved around the table and hugged Mike tightly.   
"Sorry I didn't tell you," Mike said softly "I knew it would upset you…"   
"I'm more upset that you thought that you shouldn't tell us about it and pissed at you for taking Afton at his word. This is why we don't let you go off on your own! Plus it sets a bad example for James when it comes to the talk about dealing with strangers"   
"Anyway, turns out it is a good thing that you do have that sight thing, otherwise kids might have started disappearing again," said Mark patting Mike on the back "And you'll be happy to know, I've got just the thing to protect the pizzerias!"   
"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," said Mike as Jack and Jeremy came back over to the table. They placed the drinks down and Jack sat back down in his seat while Jeremy paused for a moment and then slapped Mike hard on the back of the head.   
"You pull any more of this hocus pocus crap without informing us first, I will beat the shit out of you before tattling on you to your mother" Jeremy warned as he took Connie's old seat.  
"Understood sir" Mike moaned as he rubbed the back of his head. "So, Mark here reckons he's got something that will protect the pizzerias, so what is it?"   
Mark gave a knowing smile and reached for a bag he had bought and lifted it to the table to show.   
"Horseshoes?" Said Jack as he lifted one from the bag.   
"Not just any old horseshoes! IRON horseshoes" said Mark smugly. "I've done my research and ever since Critter County I've been looking up stuff to protect me from the supernatural stuff as well as the normal and or zombie apocalypse"   
"Seriously Mark? Zombie apocalypse?" said Jack trying not to laugh.   
"Hey, when the shit hits the fan at the end of the world, you'll be glad to have a friend like me, I've got tinned food, guns, back up generators, and now these babies!" said Mark proudly as he held up the horseshoe.   
"Ok I'll bite, why are horseshoes going to save the pizzerias?" said Jeremy as he drank his pint.   
"As far back as the eighth century, people have hung horseshoes over their front doors as a sign of good luck and a way to ward off evil spirits. One story goes that the devil went to a blacksmith to be shod, the blacksmith took two hot shoes and nailed them to the devil's feet. The devil screamed in pain and ripped them off and declared he would never go near them again. Secondly, it's a known fact that things like fairies, goblins and other such creatures are weak against iron. It works the same way silver works on werewolves. We hang one of these little beauties above the doors of pizzerias and anything supernatural won't be able to get in"   
"Sounds like you've done your homework Mark" smiled Mike "and if it works, a little bonus might be in order"   
"Only a little one? At least reimburse me for the shoes! They weren't cheap!" Mark moaned dramatically, getting both his shoulders punched by Jeremy and Jack.   
"So it will stop them from entering the pizzeria...but what about the car parks?" Connie asked, holding up one of the horseshoes.   
"I figure since the car parks are a part of the pizzerias they will be part of the protection package. If not...will have to figure something else out" said Mark with a slight shrug. "Maybe put iron spikes in the corners?"   
"I'm still not liking the idea of not being able to see our enemy though...if it is only one. It could be a whole group for all we knew" said Jeremy.   
"What about that spell you learnt from Afton?" said Jack "Maybe we can learn it…"   
"Mike could only use it because he's got magic inside of him, Afton had to kill a lot of kids and use their souls for him to have that kind of power...and if it means seeing what Mike is seeing...I for one would rather not. No offence Mike" said Connie.   
"None taken but Jeremy is right, it's no good fighting an enemy that only I can see, so I need to work on something for you guys and maybe the animatronics as well…" said Mike as his phone beeped with a message. "It's Adam, he says sorry for not turning up, his mom caught him and is making him busy with chores"   
"Ouch, she's still really mad about Critter County?"   
"Yep and is really trying to get him to take on a new job but he's deliberately failing the interviews so he doesn't have too, but I think his mom might be catching on to that," said Mike as he put his phone back in his pocket.   
"What can you do? His mother won't listen to reason…" said Mark sadly. 

\---Line Break---

Adam slammed his front door a little more than he should have but damn it he was pissed off. He had wanted to have a drink with the guys and see baby James, but the moment he had told his mom about it, suddenly the rubbish needed taking out, the dishes needed putting away, could he gather up the washing from the bedrooms while she was hovering and then could he help her unblock the hover. It was stupid! She knew he was going out! Why wait until the last second to get him to help unless she was trying to stop him from seeing the gang. Ever since Critter County she had turned into a complete control freak, needing to know where he was all the time, who he was with and worst of all, practically trying to force him to get another job. He got it, he did, he did something stupid but she had already grounded him for that right? It wasn't like his job was dangerous...ok that one time with Balloria but she was possessed by an angry spirit at the time and just because their old landlord was a dumbass that went off on his own and got killed doesn't mean it was going to happen to him. Adam was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't see the woman in front of him until he walked into her and the box she was carrying went over the floor.   
"Hey!" she called out indignity as she scrambled to pick up her belongings.   
"Oh god, I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going" said Adam as he knelt to help her.   
"It's fine. I take it you're one of my tenants? Do you live alone?" she asked, pushing up her glasses.   
"Er no, um, I live with my mom and siblings down the hall at the end. Did you say "My Tenants?" does that mean…?"   
"I'm your new landlord? Yes. I am. You can call me Ms Venessa. Please tell your mom that I will be sending out a letter about me taking over and about a few changes I wish to enact soon"   
"What? Like raising the rent or something?" Adam asked with some concern.   
"No, nothing like that, this area isn't the safest of places, so I will be beefing up security here. Keycode to get in and such"   
"Oh then sure, I'm sure everyone will be on board with that," said Adam when he noticed something still on the floor. "Oh hey you dropped this"   
Adam picked up a rabbit-shaped mask but when he turned it around to look at it, the deranged smiling image made his stomach turn. It was creepy as hell. More like a Halloween mask out of a creepy horror slash movie. Venessa snatched it out of his hands and glared at him for a moment before making her face blank and turning back to her apartment.   
"Thank you. I'm sure to see you soon" and with that, she slammed the door shut.   
"Weird and creepy. Just great! Oh CRAP! I'm going to miss my bus!" Adam cried out as he ran down the stairs. Inside old McBear's apartment, Venessa sighed and picked up the mask and slipped it on. The mask's eyes glowed red.   
"Sir? Sir, I'm here. Like you instructed. No. No problems. I just met one of the tenants, a kid, nothing to worry about. According to the information I received from the realtor, Mr Schmidt lives on this level. Yes, I will be careful, I will follow the plan. I will not fail you" 

\----Line Break----

Mr Purohit pushed down his hair on his thinning top and checked his breath before polity knocking on the Lady's door. He had a soft "Enter" and quickly checked his suit for any wrinkles before opening the door and going into the Lady's chambers. Her rooms were dark and surrounded by rich furniture, The Lady sat like a queen on her throne as Purohit knelt before her.   
"Why have you come to bother me?" her voice was rich and sharp, it felt like she was about to pierce him with her words should he bore her.   
"I thought you would care for an update, my Lady. Everything is on its way to being ready before scheduled. Mr Schmidt has already sent in the paperwork for the pizzeria that will draw hundreds of children to the Mall for you to take your pick. There will be plenty of dark spaces, blind spots for the security cameras, lots of little hidden doors…"   
"Spare me your gloating and get to the point if you have one!" she snapped.  
Purohit took out a handkerchief and patted his brow that was covered in sweat "Well...um...you see, I thought, since we're running ahead of schedule, you wouldn't mind...perhaps....a small remuneration for services rendered?"   
The lady sat staring at him for a while saying nothing, sweat started to pour out of him from every pore, had he gone too far? He knew they were running thin on...product... hence the need for the mall but still he was sure she could spare him a little something, he was a most loyal servant after all.   
"I suppose a small thank you is in order for all your hard work…" The Lady rose from her seat with the grace of a bird of prey and seemed to float across the floor to a nearby large birdcage that had a black sheet covering it. There was a loud whimper as her hand reached in and pulled out a small child. He couldn't tell the gender, it was too thin and dirty to tell anyway, not that it mattered. The lights flickered and the room went so cold that Purohit could see his breath, as the Lady released the child only for it to float in the air as it cried out for help. The Lady held her hand out and around the child, the room shook violently nearly knocking Purohit to the floor as he watches in both fascination and horror, as the child turned and twisted and morphed into a nasty gnome and then screamed as that foam decayed and turned into a small black mass while a whirling light floated above it. The black mass fell to the floor without a sound and took the outline shape of the child it had once been but now nothing more than a shadow. The Lady twirled the light orb into a glass bottle and handed it over to Purohit.   
"Remember, only small doses, take more than that and you will have to come up with some excuse to your appearance"   
"Most people believe in cosmetic surgery these days…" said Purohit offhandedly as he went to take the bottle but the Lady pulled it back. He looked up at her white masked face as she boarded down on him expectantly. He quickly remembered himself and fell to his hands and knees.  
"A thousand pardons my Lady, please excuse my excitement, I meant no disrespect" he begged as he watched the bottle as if hypnotized by its contents.   
"Very well. See it doesn't happen again. Otherwise…." She let go of the bottle, Purohit drives across the floor to catch it in his sweaty hands and then clutched it to his chest for safety.   
"My Thanks, oh great and merciful Lady, I am but your humble servant"   
The Lady bent slightly and took one of Purohit's hands.   
"Yes, you are, aren't you, obedient...loyal?" There was a questioning tone to her voice as Purohit looked horrified as his trapped hand began to age in front of him. It had withered to almost bone, his rings dangled helplessly, the hairs long and white with age and what skin was left was wrinkled and almost grey.   
"YES! YES! I AM LOYAL!" he cried as he tried to pull away as the ageing started to spread down to his wrist and his arm.   
The Lady waited for a few moments before letting go and standing up straight.   
"Good. That is all I wanted to hear. Do not let me detain you, Mr Purohit. I'm sure you are a busy man"   
"Yes. Yes, My Lady, and Thank you for your time and your generosity, I will continue to be your most loyal of servants" Purohit bowed repeatedly as he backed out of her rooms. Once the door was shut, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, through the leaking corridors, through the plush and glamorous dining halls, to the small yacht that was waiting for him outside. He sat panting in the small cabin clutching the bottle tightly as the captain sailed them back. He looked down at his hand, it was back to normal, but still shaking slightly from the horror he had just seen. He wiped his brow with his handkerchief and took a moment to calm down before he undid the bottle. He took a large swig and slammed the bottle lid back to make sure none escaped. He put the bottle down and pulled out a small hand mirror and looked. Grey hairs were turning black, wrinkles were disappearing, skin tightening and his waist reclined but only slightly. He looked about fifteen years younger, not too bad, maybe he should take another sip? No, the Lady said no to waste it and he would not, she had been rather stringy as of late but that was mainly down to not being able to get children as often as they wanted. That was the problem these days, too much technology, not enough innocence, plus it was amazing that they were people that LIKED having children. It astounded him it really did. They were nasty, demanding, expensive things that ruined your life. Well, that was not for him. He was going to live a long life, a long, good looking life, one that required him to uphold his end of the deal and supply children for the Mau. 

The Lady sighed heavily with fatigue as she sat at her vanity. Making that elixir always made her tired. Not that the little pig truly deserved it, but he had been helpful and if his mall plan works, they wouldn't need to pay the orphanages or the child snatches off. She looked down at the bills and the books and sighed. There were not enough children for the next feast and they were still cleaning out the bedrooms from killing the guests, though thankfully no one had noticed anyone going missing. Yet what annoyed her most of all was the lack of help her helpers were, namely the Teacher and the Hunter. The Teacher had sent in at least a few results of her work while the Hunter had turned up empty. Damn it! They needed children! It was what their customers were paying a ludicrous amount of money for. She sighed again and placed her delicate hand against her masked face. If you wanted a job done right you had to do it yourself. 

\---Line Break---

It was early evening at the Nightmare, far in the back rooms where Mike's office was, laid the twin animatronic girls while Mike and Jack did the final checks on their bodies before rebooting them.   
"Thanks for the help Jack," said Mike as he placed the red wig back on Belle. "It's helped. Though shouldn't you be helping with James?"   
"Well, let's just say he's dropped one hell of a stinker, best to let the animatronics clean up that mess," said Jack pulling a face "The smell alone makes me want to puke"   
"Seriously? You need to get used to it Jack because when it comes to cleaning the Nightmare animatronics I don't want to be scooping shit out of their finger joints' 'said Mike as he went over to Baby and placed on her new red hairpiece. Jack was both amazed and a little freaked out by the twin girls' new appearances. All through their paint jobs were the same as before along with their matching red dresses, they were now a lot slimmer and agile and more human in faceplates as well much like the Tony's. The one with the major differences now was Baby with her matching red hair and blue optics rather than green. It was about the only thing Mike could change about Baby, her physical appearance, as her processor was sealed up tighter than Fort Knox. Nothing Mike tried could get him inside her mind and while Baby was capable of learning much like the others, he couldn't give her virus software or upgrade any of her programs, which meant she would be mentally a child forever, though that wasn't a problem really, he wished he could give her a choice.   
"Ok, let's boot them up and see how they like their new bodies," said Mike as he flipped Baby's switch and Jack did Belle. Both girls began to shake, but something odd happened to Baby, her hair changed...it went brown and straightened out its curls, her blue optics blinked out and flashed back on dark green instead.   
"Mike…? Did you…?" Jack asked as he swallowed the lump that foamed in his throat.   
"Nope...and not a word of it now, we'll talk later," said Mike as he placed a large smile on his face as the girls turned and looked at him. "How are my girls?"  
"Daddy" "Mummy" they cheered happily both.   
"Like your new bodies?"   
They looked at each other and then down at their bodies, taking in each detail and wiggling their joints.   
"We're slim! We look like supermodels!" said Baby excitedly as she jumped down off the table and wobbled slightly not used to the change in her weight and gravity.   
"Easy! Easy! It's going to take a little while to get used to your new bodies. Belle, you jump down too and tell me who you feel" said Mike as he took Baby's arm in his hand.   
Belle stepped down and waited until she found her centre of gravity in her new body. She looked over at Baby and tilted her head.   
"I thought you were going to make Baby and I look the same?"   
"Well, I did…" Mike nervously laughed not looking at Jack "But then I realized if I did that, I wouldn't know which one of you was which, and all the trouble you would cause if I did make you too alike, besides I think it's nice that you're both so unique"   
Both girls giggled and hugged Mike tightly before taking each other's servos and running off to show everyone their new bodies as Mike slunk down on the workbench.   
"Mike...I don't know what to say but...damn...that was…." Jack spluttered with great unease "I don't like this magic stuff"   
"You and me both," said Mike. "Did you place the horseshoe up on the front door?"   
"As soon as we got back from Tap and Tins. Not going to take any chances" said Jack. "Connie is putting salt across the doorway too, supposed to stop witches and the like from getting in too"   
"I hope it works. We might be overprotective right now but it's better safe than sorry" 

\---Line Break---

Wally looked at the black puddle in annoyance. He slammed his mop down and tried to mop up the spill but the black puddle moved out of the mop's way. Yes, it sounds crazy but it was true, the puddle would not be mopped up. He sighed loudly. He was thinking of packing this job in. Sure work was hard to come by these days but damn it there was something weird going on here and those GENTS guys were behind it. Acting like big I am and thinking their shit doesn't stink, he cleaned the toilets here and he knew who stank out the worst and it was certainly them. The odd thing was...well...there were a lot of them at one point, say about a week and a half or two, and now it seemed like they were on a skeleton crew. There hadn't been any layoffs, he would have heard about it, but no one knew anything and everyone was keeping their heads down. Now that he thought about it, other people were "missing" too, he hadn't seen Suzie in a while and she hadn't cleaned out her locker or anything, so where was she? Suddenly his mop tugged in his hands and he looked down to see the ink wrapping itself around the head and was now climbing up the stick. He tried to wave the black ink off but it held fast and continued to climb upwards towards his hands.  
"WALLY! DROP IT! DROP IT NOW!" screamed a deep southern voice when two large hands grabbed him and pulled him away as he dropped the mop. Wally let out a small yelp and turned to see Norman's frightened face.   
"Norman! What the hell is wrong with….?"   
Norman said nothing but pointed towards the fallen mop. Wally turned back around to look and gave a small gasp. There was nothing there but an inky blob just like before, only this time it was in the oddly shaped shape of what his mop had looked like. A scream broke through their stunned silence and seemed to rattle the walls of the studio with its pain. Dust flowed everywhere from the ceilings, walls and floors, as if the very building was crying out, and to Wally and Norman's horror, ink thick and black started to bleed from the walls and headed straight for them.   
"RUN" shouted Norman as he started running towards the stairs, Wally running after him as the ink started to flood the floor and chase after them. Wally tripped on the step and looked behind him and noticed the ink rising over the stairs reaching out like a pair of hands to pull him back. Norman grabbed Wally's arm and pulled him up the stairs and slammed the door shut and continued to run until they were in the projector room panting for breath.   
"What the hell was that? And that scream? What the heck is going on here Norman?" Wally panted looking around, mostly at the floor.   
"That was the scream of the devil Wally, the boss man and those fellows from Gent are messing with stuff they do not understand or can control," said Norman. "If I was you, Wally, I'd stay on the upper floors near the light and near the exits"   
"You don't have to tell me twice! I'm out of here!" said Wally as he turned and started to run towards the lift leaving Norman behind with his projectors. Another painful scream rocked the lower floors as Norman shook his head sadly.   
"The Bossman has made enemies with the Devil. Gods only know what will happen to us all when he gets out" 

\---Line Break---

Henry smiled down at his drawings and flipped through them to see the images move. He had more or less finished the first half of the first Freddy cartoon. He just needed to scan his pictures into the computer and do all the final touches, then add the music and the few audio clips Mike had sent him by emails. He felt his mobile ring in his trouser pocket. Must be Jeremy, he always rang to say he was going and asked if he needed a lift or wanted to go for a drink, so he pulled out his phone without looking at it and held it to his ear.   
"Hey Jeremy, I'm almost done…"   
"Henry it's me, Joey…"   
Henry froze. He hadn't spoken to Joey in months. Hell, he hadn't even spoken to him when he left, knowing that if he had, he probably would not have left.   
"Joey…"  
"Henry, don't you think it's time you come home? I'm missing you, I can't find anything, I'm struggling to get around, come home already and we can sort out whatever the problem is" That was Joey all over. Always thinking it was something else that was the problem and not him, not to mention trying to guilt-trip him into going back because he was stuck in a wheelchair and couldn't do much on his own.   
"I've been putting on so much weight! Can't go shopping and such, so I'm relying on takeaways. Don't think I've seen a salad for weeks" Joey laughed "Now, you tell me where you are and I'll send a car for you to bring you home"   
"Sorry, Joey. I can't come back. I'm in the middle of a new project…"   
"What? What project? Who hired you? I'll double it! Triple it!" snapped Joey "This is your home Henry and you're just going to abandon it? Abandon ME! And what about Bendy huh? What is he going to do without you?"  
Henry was shaking, he was so angry and confused, he didn't know what to say. Joey was the bad guy here not him...right? He was the one cheating on him with a voice actress right? And it wasn't the first time either! This was so like Joey!   
"I'm sure there is enough in the business to hire more animators to replace me though I doubt they will put in the same amount of hours that I did for you. If you are short of cash then I'm sure you can suck the dick of one of "Your" many investors I've caught you with and I'm sure Ms Campbell will be more than happy to look after you"  
There was silence on the line for a while then a groan, deep and mournful, but he wasn't buying it this time, he had heard it all before.   
"Henry, I told you, there was nothing between me and that guy. I fell out of my seat, I was merry on a couple of drinks and just landed face-first into his lap. As for Ms Campbell, it was a business dinner and she has since then left our employment. Now, are you going to stop being so stubborn and making up stories of new projects and come home already?"   
That got Henry's back up. For some reason, Joey seemed to think that he was incapable of doing anything on his own, without his help or guidance. Joey seemed to forget as he always did, that he was the dreamer with the ideas while he dealt with all the rest. He made sure there was money in the tin when it was called for, bills were paid and the cartoons were always on time. Joey may be the mouth and face of the studio but Henry had been the brains and the heart of it.   
"I said No Joey. I've got a wonderful office here, new friends and a really good project with a boss that cares for his employees. Now if you don't mind I need to get back to work…"   
"Work? Work! HA! Do you think your silly little drawings are going to be good enough for whatever two-bit hack you're working for? Are you forgetting how it was my ideas to change Bendy that made him into the star he is? Don't fool yourself, Henry! Without me your nothing..."  
Whatever Joey was going to say was cut off as Henry snapped his phone shut and threw it across the room where it hit the far wall with a thump and fell to the floor in a couple of pieces. Tears were already falling down his face and his heart was thumping hard in his chest. Joey always knew what buttons to press to hurt him. To make him feel small and unsure. He tried to wipe his face clean but more tears came out. Damn it! What was worse, that if Joey had said he loved him and said something about making their partnership work, or even simply apologized, Henry knew that he would have packed up his things and gone back, sending the finished project for Freddy's by Email, because he still loved Joey with all his heart and it hurt like hell. He slumped in his seat and looked at the computer. It said it would be finished for another hour or two and the store was closing at about the same time. Resting his head in his arms, he closed his eyes and tried to have a small nap as the call had taken a lot out of him, soon he was snoring away as the minutes ticked by. So did the two hours and not even the evening bell that signalled for the animatronics to go to sleep woke him up from his slumber. The second bell caused him to stir slightly but it was dark so he went back to sleep. Then something heavy was shaking him awake.   
"Mr Stein! You're not meant to be here. Wake up!"   
Henry groaned as he opened his eyes. The room was as dark as a pit in hell. There wasn't even any light coming from outside. There was only a faint light coming off his monitor.   
"Mr Stein? Are you awake?"   
He looked up and his heart stopped in his chest and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. It was a bear, with glowing black eyes and glowing white teeth with its large hand on his shoulder. Henry screamed and fell backwards off his chair and rolled helplessly into the wall behind him. The lightswitch snapped on and filled the room with light as Shadow came into the room and glared at Sooty.   
"Damn it Sooty! You were meant to simply escort him out! Not scare him half to death!"   
"I tried to do it gently but he took one look at me and freaked out!" snapped Sooty as he knelt and held out his servo to Henry to take. "You alright Mr Stein?"   
"Just a small bump. Nothing to worry about" Henry groaned as he took Sooty's servo and got to his feet.   
"You're lucky we were on duty tonight Mr Stein. If papa or uncle Freddy had found you, they would have stuffed you into an old spare suit as punishment and according to Daddy it's not one you're going to live through" said Shadow. He looked at the human's face and noticed the puffiness of his eyes, he had been crying, and his phone was on the other side of the room in pieces, something bad had happened. "Are you alright Mr Stein?"   
"Yes..no...I mean...I had a call from my ex. He...said somethings...rattled me...it's nothing. I apologize Shadow, Sooty, it was not my intent to break the rules. I simply fell asleep and lost track of time"   
Shadow and Sooty shared a look, Henry wondered if they could communicate over wifi or radio to each other without humans hearing, Sooty sighed and looked at Henry with slight concern.   
"I'll go and speak with my father and explain the situation along with Mark. I'm sure you have been told by Mr Stein, that staying here at night time without taking the five-day test is forbidden and is a sacking offence…"   
Shadow punched his shoulder joint when Mr Stein hung his head and looked like he was about to cry.   
"It might not be the case….I mean…this was an accident"   
"It's not down to us, Shadow. Until Father stands down as head bear, it's his rules and your dad's. At least he isn't as bad as my papa was when he still functioned, otherwise Mr Stein would have already been stuffed"   
Sooty left the room and Henry slumped into the chair, rubbing his face with his hands, maybe Joey was right...maybe he was useless without him. Shadow placed his servos on his shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze.   
"Don't worry. Uncle Freddy may be a bit stern but I'm sure he'll understand" said Shadow softly as he looked at the computer monitor. "It says something has finished Mr Stein. Is it the cartoon?"   
"Oh! Yes. Well, the first couple of minutes of it at least. Want to watch it?" Henry asked "I could do with a bit with a bit of feedback"   
"Love too" sailed Shadow as he watched Henry type a few things in and a window popped up with the Freddy Fazbear lego on before fading into a pizzeria with a few kids playing with the Freddy and band song playing. A young boy is hiding under the table while voices of older boys were making threats about beating him up if they found him. The picture went black and white with a bit of audio over the top but showed the boy asleep under the table while the clock struck midnight.   
"Rise and Shine gang! We've got a busy night ahead of us!" said Cartoon Freddy off-screen. The boy jumped awake and looked underneath the table cloth as the cartoon animatronics talked loudly about getting jobs done while Freddy moaned that they needed to practice their new song while walking past the table only showing their feet.   
"Say now, what's going on with this table?" said cartoon Freddy as he lifted it, revealing the little boy. Both screamed when they saw one another and the little boy begs him not to hurt him.   
"Now calm down kid! There is no shouting in the pizzeria after-hours" said cartoon Freddy as he helped the boy to his feet. "And there are not supposed to be kids in here after hours either. So what's your story?"   
The boy explained he was hiding from bullies and ended up falling asleep under the table. Then his stomach grumbled loudly. Freddy laughed and placed his paw on the boy's shoulder.   
"Let's go and see Chica, she will have my top hat if I let a visitor go hungry, she will be in the kitchen getting things ready for tomorrow, come on, this way"   
Then the screen went black.   
"So what do you think so far?" Henry asked as he looked over at Shadow.   
"Well considering your not mean to be here Mr Stein, I must say the cartoon seems to be coming along very well"   
Both Shadow and Henry jumped and turned to see Freddy in the doorway. The old brown bear did not look amused as his brow was frowning deeply.   
"I must say it looks very good but then what I was expecting and I'm sure Mr Schmidt will agree. But I think you and I need to speak…Shadow, you are on arcade duty tonight, please go and make a start please"   
Shadow looked a little concerned but left quickly as Freddy pulled up a chair. Henry wiped his face with a tissue and looked at the bear. He sat across from the bear and wondered what the animatronic wanted. The bear took off his top hat and rubbed his head with a sigh.   
"How long were you with your ex Mr Stein? If you don't mind me asking"   
"How long? Damn must be almost forty years. We both served in the war and I rescued Joey who had gotten injured. We started dating in secret shortly after he left the hospital, most people assuming I was just his carer"   
"Why secret? Were you ashamed of being a couple?"   
"More it was against the law and also a social taboo at least back then, people are a lot more relaxed about that sort of thing now"   
"Ah, I see. I forget you humans are not as advanced as us animatronics" nodded Freddy "My mate Goldie, didn't care about things like gender and he loved me...in his way"   
"Goldie? I'm sorry I don't think I have met him" said Henry as he tried to remember all the animatronics he had met.   
"He...broke..almost a year ago. He was in his late sixes and refused to be upgraded for a while...he went the way he wanted to go, surrounded by family. The odd thing...since his passing, I started to realize things about our relationship that I didn't like and Goldie...he wasn't exactly faithful either…"   
"You mean he...went with other animatronics?"   
"More like a human, who liked him and Goldie took advantage of that. Plus most things always had to be his way and he used to pout, moan and even argue over it until we either compromised or I gave in, just to keep the peace. He would try to manipulate my emotions and even used sex to get his way"   
"Sounds a lot like my Joey. Joey is all about the idea and image and when things don't go his way, he fires people and hires other people to get the job done, throwing money at his problems and never taking responsibility for his acts. I got tired of being used and making excuses for him. Tired of pretending everything was ok when it wasn't. I guess the strew was………..wait for a second….did you just say that your "mate" used to use….."Sex" to manipulate you"   
"Yes. Oh Goldie was always going after "My honeypot" and I can't remember the number of times I've had to have my joints knocked back in because he got a little too rough"   
Henry's face went bright red. Surely...no...they were animatronics...they didn't need to know about sex let alone know what parts to use...if they had those parts at all. Freddy chuckled loudly.   
"Yes, Mr Stein. I did say sex and yes I am as are the other more than equipt for it. Why a few months ago the animatronics of all four restaurants came here for a night of...activities, with Mike, Adam and even your nephew Jeremy, all though he didn't experiment and stuck to the "Ladies"   
Henry's brain felt fried and he could only nod stupidly. Jeremy and an animatronic? Ok...it was a little odd...but he was an adult and she was...an...adult? Consenting? He knew that some people like playing with toys...maybe it would be best to think of it as Jeremy having a healthy relationship with a vibrator...in the shape of a chicken. Yes. He can handle that.   
"You should know now," said Freddy "Save you getting embarrassed if you catch any of us at it. We do try to be discreet but some get off on getting caught"   
"Thank you for the warning," said Henry, "I think I better get back to my new apartment. Again I apologize for breaking the rules Freddy" said Henry as he picked up his bag.   
"We'll let you off for now" smiled Freddy "I'll work you to the door and Mr Stein?"   
"Yes?"   
"If your ex starts on you again, invite him here, after-hours...We have a nice suit with lots of inner spikes for him to try" 

\---Line Break---

Mike climbed up the stairs slowly, his leg was killing him and he was dead tired. Dealing with Big Daddy was hard work and he got the whole wanting to be extra careful with Baby James about, but getting infrared sensors and motion sensors around the place was just asking for trouble as well as putting a huge hole in his wallet. In the end, he agreed to upgrade the camera system and placing at least one more camera outside to cover the whole of the car park. The girls' new looks had gone down well, regular customers saying that they missed them and new asking for pictures.   
"When am I going to get a new look, Mister Mike?" JJ asked hopefully with a large toothy smile.   
"Not for a while, I'm afraid JJ. I've got to build a whole new group of animatronics for the new pizzeria first" the little monster animatronic moaned and lowered his head and Mike felt a small pang of guilt "Tell you what JJ, you design for me what you want to look like and when I'm done with the others, you will be my top priority ok?"   
The little monster boy cheered and went over to the twin girls to share his news, while Mike groaned loudly, wondering what he had gotten himself into. Now he was finally on his floor and dragging himself to his fount door. Then it happened. His back went straight, all the hairs on his body stood on end, all his survival instincts  
started to tingling. He slowly pulled his cane upwards, ready to use it to defend himself as he tried to control his breathing as his heart thumped wildly in his chest. He twisted on his good leg, swung his cane around hard...at nothing. He was alone. Yet Mike knew better, years working at Freddy's had given him good instincts and they were telling him he wasn't alone and was...not so much in danger at the moment but being watched. Mike looked up and down the hallway, almost straining his eyes to see anything, but saw nothing, though his eyes kept swinging to Old McBear's door for some reason. Deciding it was probably safer in his apartment, Mike quickly got out his keys and entered his apartment and promptly locked the door. A few moments of silence followed, then the door to the old man's apartment opened and a glowing red eye peered out of the dark. 

  
\----Line Break----

It was not often Jack put his foot down and when he did, it was always a hassle because, in his home, his word came third place to his wife and then Big Daddy. He had nothing against the big black bear and saw him almost like a second father-in-law, but sometimes like many in-laws he just needed to back off a bit and let him have some private time with his little boy without him hovering over him. Connie agreed and spoke to Big Daddy who, like a troll with a toothache, finally agreed to let Jack take James out to the small park without any of the animatronics escorting them and letting them have some much-needed daddy and son bonding. So little James was wrapped up warm and bundled into the baggy, with a small mixture of soft toys and things that rattled. Freddystein placed a large bag on the table and patted Jack on the shoulder to get his attention.   
"Here is James's bag, spare change of clothes, diapers and everything else you might need in there"   
"Thanks, Freddystein, who knew babies could make such a mess? I mean, we were only out for an hour and he went through at least two outfits" Jack exclaimed.   
"Yes, I'm more than aware," said Freddystein with a soft voice as he smiled with both his mouths down at James who cooed back. "He's thrown upon me plenty of times. My cubs did it a lot when they drank their oil too fast, at least milk comes out of the fur a lot easier"   
Connie laughed as she came into the room wearing her old bathrobe and holding her coffee in one hand as she walked over to Jack and kissed his cheek.   
"You boys have fun ok? Stay safe and warm and take as much time as you like, just text now and again, just to keep Big Daddy off your back"   
"Well do, enjoy your morning love, I know you and Freddystein here want to catch up on your dramas!" Jack laughed as Connie gave him a small slap on the shoulder for the cheek and then kissed him again before following Freddystein to the living room. Jack whistled happily as he pushed James out of the front door and pulled his keys out to lock it when he remembered he hadn't picked up the bag.   
"Oh damn it. Forget my head if it wasn't screwed on" he muttered to himself as he quickly ran in to get it, leaving James all alone in his baggy over the salt line. The Lady rose from the bushes and smiled behind her mask. What a treat! She stepped forward and hissed loudly as she quickly backed away as if she had trod on something painful. She looked around and then noticed the iron horseshoe hanging from the door as well as the faint glowing line of salt beneath it. She tutted under her breath but it was only a little matter. She reached out her hand, as her shadow lengthened, creepy up the path like a snake until it coiled around the baggy and started to pull it towards her. 

To Be Continued…


End file.
